Private Memoirs of World War II Presentation at Senior Center of the Chathams

The Senior Center of the Chathams welcomes Reyer Swaak on Fri Nov 11 at 12:30 pm for a presentation entitled “Private Memoirs of World War II: The Occupation of the Dutch East Indies.” 

Mr. Swaak will talk about his personal experiences as a teenager imprisoned for four years by the Japanese Army. He will discuss the state of mind of the Japanese before and at the end of the war as well as the emergence of Third World nationalism. 

Mr Swaak spent 35 years of his active career in global human resources. He spent twenty-four years with Schering-Plough Corporation; the last thirteen years as Vice President of Human Resources. He joined the National Trade Council in 1990 as Vice President and headed up their global human resources unit. Furthermore, Reyer has been an adjunct professor of Business Strategy and Policy in the MBA program for executives at Fairleigh Dickenson University for ten years. Prior to his business career, Mr. Swaak spent two years in the Dutch Army and served as a battery officer in the Dutch artillery. 

Born and raised in Indonesia, a Dutch colony at that time, he and his family spent almost four years in Japanese concentration camps. After the war, he and his family returned to the Netherlands where he met his wife. Both he and his wife emigrated to Canada in 1958. They moved to the US in 1962 and currently live in Chatham. 

The public is invited to attend this free program.

Reservations can be made by calling the Senior Center at (973)635-4565. The Senior Center is located in the Chatham Twp Municipal building at 58 Meyersville Road (see map below).

Chatham senior residents can utilize the Senior bus for door-to-door transportation by calling the above telephone number. 

The Senior Services Center of the Chathams is a not-for-profit corporation that supports the independence of the senior community and their families by providing an enrichment center, transportation, information and referral services.