Oluf Munck E-Book

Jakob Munck

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 39

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Oluf Munck was a Danish doctor who left his homeland in 1919 and went to Dutch-East Indies (Java). Here he was employed by the Dutch military (KNIL) as a doctor. When the Japanese invaded Java in 1942 he was involved in the resistance movement and he chose not to listen to the warnings that he had been exposed and would be arrested by the Japanese. Therefore he met his inevitable destiny. He was arrested, tortured and beheaded.

Leseprobe

Content:

1. INTRODUCTION

2. DENMARK

3. INDONESIA

4. THE WAR

5. THE END

6. TIMELINE

7. THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE

8. PHOTOS

9. LITERATURE/SOURCES

1. INTRODUCTION

Dear reader.

This little book is about my grandfather, who chose to sacrifice his life in the fight against Japanese fascism in the hope that his descendants – and everybody else – could live in freedom. It is with love and great pride that I tell his story.

Oluf Munck was born the 14th of October 1886, he left Denmark in 1920 and his life ended under a big beech in northern Jakarta, where he was beheaded by the Japanese the July 23rd 1943. Prior to this he was exposed to long-lasting, brutal torture.

His crime was, that he had fought for freedom and against the Japanese occupation army, who – in alliance with Adolf Hitler – tried to turn Java into a Japanese colony and to enforce the Japanese version of Hitler’s racism and fascism.

We are all in debt to the millions who sacrificed their life in the fight against fascism in the Second World War. We can thank the Russians for defeating Hitler and the Americans for preventing the Japanese dictatorship to gain power over Asia. In a war, victory always comes as a result of the effort of many people, and in this context Oluf Munck is only one of the many. He chose to join the resistance movement and his effort might not have had a great militant significance, but his courage was admirable. It is for this courage that I, and many others, admire him.

Oluf Munck has received a great deal of awards for his effort and his sacrifice. These awards are all given posthumously. He is buried in a Dutch memorial grave, which is dedicated to the victims of the anti-Japanese freedom fight in northern Jakarta. The same place where Oluf – and many others – were executed.

Oluf Munck lived most of his life outside of Denmark. This could be the reason why a lot of people in his home country do not know him.

However this is a big mistake. Historians have shown that, Denmark’s role in the war was equivocal and problematic. This is the reason why we need examples of Danes, who have done something we can be proud of. Oluf Munck was one of those Danes. He loved his fatherland and he loved his children in Denmark. He loved the values that they represented. He loved them so much that he chose to die for them.

This little book is my modest contribution to honor my grandfather. If I had the time and the ability, I would write a larger biography about his foreign experiences. A movie would also be relevant. But my time is short and therefore I have to limit myself. My wish is that Oluf’s descendants, also in later generations, will understand to value the hero that is their ancestor. Oluf did not die in vain.

Dear grandfather

I thank you and I pray for you

Your grandchild

Jakob Munck

2. DENMARK

Oluf Munck was born in Copenhagen 14th October 1886. His father was merchant Erik Munck and his mother’s name was Ellen Margrethe Friehling. I don’t have any knowledge about what happened in Oluf’s childhood, but I know he was sent to Herlufsholm boarding school and that he decided to study medicine to become a doctor.

Oluf Munck as Danish soldier (about 1913)

Around 1908 Oluf gets married to Bodil Jerichau. She is a couple of years younger than him, and from an affluent family with an impressive genealogical table, that could be traced back to the Danish protestant reformator Hans Tausen (1494–1561). Oluf and Bodil had three children, namely Lise (born 1910), Jørgen (born 1915) and Johan (born 1917). In the year 1916 they lived in a flat in Copenhagen-Østerbro (Nøjsomhedsvej 6, 4.sal) and Oluf were working on the Øresunds hospital not far away.

Probably Oluf was not satisfied with his life in Denmark, because in 1918 he decides to go to Finland to participate in the Civil War, under General Mannerheim. Oluf worked as a doctor, but when the war ended the same year, he returned to Denmark, where much seems to indicate that he still was not happy, neither in his work nor in his marriage. It is told, that he did engage in some kind of business, went broke and had to borrow 25.000 kroner from his wife Bodil, but no one really know the details about this. We only know, that a few years later (probably 1920) he applies for employment in the Dutch army, as a doctor in Indonesia, which back then was a Dutch colony.