My Grandfather Was a Rōmusha

During World War II, forced civilian labourers known as rōmusha were used by the Imperial Japanese Army to build the infamous Thai-Burma Railway. Shirlene Noordin pieces together what happened to her grandfather in the three years he worked on the Death Railway.

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About the Guest

Shirlene Noordin is the founder of Phish Communications, a communications consultancy specialising in arts and culture.

Resources

Shirlene Noordin, “My Grandfather Was a Rōmusha,” BiblioAsia 18, no. 3 (2016).

Robert Hardie, The Burma-Siam Railway: The Secret Diary of Dr. Robert Hardie, 1942–1945 (London: Imperial War Museum, 1984, c1983). (From National Library, Singapore, call no. RCLOS 940.5425 HAR-[JSB])

Clifford Kinvig, River Kwai Railway: The Story of the Burma-Siam Railroad (London: Brassey’s, 1992). (From National Library, Singapore, call no. RSING 940.5472592 KIN-[WAR])

Takuma Melber, “The Labour Recruitment of Local Inhabitants as Rōmusha in Japanese-Occupied South East Asia,” International Review of Social History 61, no. 4 (2016): 165–85. (From JSTOR via NLB’s eResources website)

Credits

This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Gibson Analytics. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Shirlene Noordin and her family for sharing their story.

BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.