TracesOfWar.com

Mass Grave Chinese Sailors Kolebra Bèrdè

(Netherlands Antilles - Willemstad, Curaçao)

At the cemetery in Kolebra Bèrdè in Kas Chikitu, intended for unbelievers, a mass grave for 15 Chinese merchant men who were shot dead during a demonstration on 20 April 1942. In the shooting also 40 men were wounded.

They demonstrated since February 1942 against the poor security of the Chinese sailors on merchant ships. When they were torpedoed, they had often no chance to survive. Because of the wartime demonstration was strictly forbidden.

Nowadays the cemetery is the National Memorial of Curaçao. Sadly it is closed often.

Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries
• Photos: Fedor de Vries