A moving donation (TRC 2022.2233) came to the TRC recently that immediately caught our attention. Light and delicate, the print on a silky scarf was easily recognizable as a map. Though extremely faded, it came with an incredible story.
British evasion map from WWII, mainland Southeast Asia (TRC 2022.2233). Sheet D.
The map was given by Wouter Westerkamp, Leiden. His father, Rudolf Westerkamp, was a doctor in Dutch East Indies ( modern Indonesia) and became a prisoner of war during World War II (1939-1945). He was held in a Japanese camp in Burma (modern day Myanmar) where he held the post of doctor/health official among the many PoW's building the infamous Burma Railway.
The scarf was given to him by an American pilot who knew he was dying and would not make it out of the camp. The pilot asked Westerkamp to take the scarf and leave the camp as soon as possible. However Westerkamp, being the only doctor in the camp. did not want to leave his comrades.
Following the end of the war he eventually made it home, with the scarf, and he wore it for many years afterwards in memory of the pilot. We believe the extreme colour fading of the print on the scarf is a result of this frequent wear, a touching and personal memorial to those who never made it home from the war.
Insert in map D, of British evasion map from WWII, mainland Southeast Asia (TRC 2022.2233).
The scarf map belongs to the East Asia 1944 series of silk maps printed by Great Britain as part of “evasion kits”. The map is printed double-sided, with panel “C” showing approximately west-central Siam (Thailand) and south Burma, on the reverse, while panel “D” shows the extreme south of Siam and Burma. In total the series contains 9 sheets of double-sided panels spanning East Asia.
Evasion kits were given to pilots to help them escape if captured in or shot down over enemy territory, and contained small items useful in such emergency situations, such as a compass, eyeglasses, small flare devices and tiny knives. The most important requirement for what was included in these kits was their size. In order to remain discreet the emergency objects needed to be small, light, and easily concealable on the person. For example, the compasses were hidden in buttons and pens. This is where the benefit of the silk maps comes in.
Now, it is unlikely this scarf map is genuine silk due to war-time rations and dwindling silk supplies. Just prior to World War II, Britain imported the majority of their silk from Japan, which, of course, was cut off during the war leaving Britain to seek alternatives. Here enters the synthetic fibres that are so well known today! Rayon, viscose, and nylon are common synthetic materials nowadays, even disliked by many as we try to shift to more sustainable lifestyles. However, when they were first invented and popularized these synthetics came as a welcome substitute for expensive, scarce, and high-demand materials such as cotton and silk. The silk map now in the TRC collection is almost certainly rayon, a material touted for its silk-like properties.
'Landkaarten-jurk' (map-dress) made from British maps of mainland Southeast Asia, made into a dres after WWII. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, NG-2000-5.Before researching the history of the “silk maps” I had assumed that the use of silk was strictly due to the rations during the war, and the silk was simply re-using old parachute material out of desperation. I could not have been more wrong. The printing of maps on rayon was a purposeful decision by officials in Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF). The main benefit was the increased durability compared to normal paper maps. Fabric is of course less susceptible to water damage or creasing. Rayon could also fold up far smaller than paper and be hidden in the heel of a pilot’s boot.
The most important advantage was silence. A normal paper map would be noisy to handle when unfolding and examining, and be quickly revealed during a pat-down examination upon capture. This is why the fabric maps were quickly adopted when they became available near the end of the war, and even today maps continue to be made from a variety of synthetic materials that offer similar advantages.
We are honoured to have this piece of history in the TRC collection, and are very interested in collecting the other panels from the 1944 East Asia map series in order to have the complete set.
After the war, with material for clothing being scarce, the maps were sometimes used for making garments. There is a beautiful example of a Landkaartenjurk (map-dress) in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (NG-2000-50), made of the British 'silk' maps of mainland Southeast Asia. The dress was made and worn by the widow of a Dutch sailor killed in action in the Java Sea in the war against Japan. She returned to Holland from Indonesia in 1948.
AJ Salter, 19 August 2022
