Life and Death in Changi: The War and Internment Diary of Thomas Kitching
Edited by Goh Eck Kheng
Englishman Thomas Kitching died, aged 54, in Changi Prison in April 1944. Interned by the Japanese in 1942, Kitching, who was the Chief Surveyor of Singapore, faithfully kept a diary from December 1941. Only now made accessible, it provides meticulous details and insights into the lives – and deaths – of the internees and into the functioning of the prison. It is a tragic story of a family torn asunder by the war.
Size: 129 x 210 mm
Extent: 336 pages + 8 pages plates
Binding: Paperback
Weight: 440 g
ISBN: 978-981-3065-63-5
Reviews
The most detailed and important diary that has survived describing the life of civilian internees in Changi.
– John Bastin Emeritus Reader Modern History of South-East Asia, University of London
[Readers] will find a meticulous account of the day to day events, some frightening, appalling, inspiring, funny, fatal, all true and honest. It is a picture of the way things were. Here is the work of an observant, honest, brave, lovable human being. Tom Kitching had many friends. He will have many satisfied readers.
– Fredy Bloom, ex-Changi internee in newsletter of Association of British Civilian Internees Far East Region