"Ambarawa Fort Willem for a special reason" Ambarawa by kilat

We went to Ambarawa for a special reason. My father, as a young boy, was kept prisoned here in an camp for the Dutch people, guarded by the Japanese militairs. That was 60 years ago, now he wanted to see it back.
It was an big building, a fort, nowadays used by the Indonesian militairs. A part is still uses as a militairy prison, a part still used for living, and a part not usable at all. We have seen every corner of it, even the prisonors who waved and shouted out of the windows. We were not allowed to make contact with them, but we did tell them where we were from and why we were here.

wet!

Not a good memory, and not a good day. It was raining all day long. The ground was changed in mud. The umbrella was far to small. I was totally wet. But it matched completely with this location and its bad memories. My father recognized the place immidiately and was walking very fast to where he wanted to go to. I had barely time to take my umbrella, and it was not easy to follow him and to make pictures of him. It took hours, and I was completely wet afterwards.

room

The part my father was kept in, was at the end of our walk around the fort. This is the "room" he ones had to live in, together with others. It is competely ruined, 60 years ago there was a door. They don't do anything to upkeep the building. Some people still live somewhere in the Fort. That doesn't look pleasant also, although they try to make it a little better with plants.
The Fort is surrounded with a gate. Millitairs are guarding. We had to pay to get in, and give some sigarets to the people we met there. We also got permission to make pictures inside the Fort, but not from the prisonerspart.

• Pros:there is much more
• Cons:bad memories
• In a nutshell:Ambarawa: meet the past and the present