Philip Harding Klimanek (1883-1965) was born in the Czech Republic, at the time his place of birth was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. In ca. 1905 he started to work for Holland-China Trading Company, in Hong Kong.
In 1939, when Charles Gesner van der Voort arrived in Shanghai to work for the company, he was Charles' superior. In a letter home he wrote: "Played chess with Klimanek in the French Club" [translation Pieter Lommerse, the French Club was Le Cercle Sportif Français, a fashionable place to be in the 1930s and it still exists today]. <Read more ...>
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
Learned about it from a few online sources, also Mr. Cracknells blog as I recall. Went and looked through it this summer. Figured I would add it here. It is reasonably long, going through a ridge I think, 2 exits and a somewhat long side tunnel as I remember. One exit overlooks the reservoir.
The main access point is right off the staircase leading up from the crossroads of Mt. Parker road/Boa vista track. it is only about 50 or so meters up the staircase just past a power station. The entrance is large and obvious. <Read more ...>
A single tunnel extending into hillside. Entrance is largely silted up but it opens up a bit and extends sloping up into hillside, could be more entrances around. North-West of the PB around 30 meters or so. It is along a ravine next to a pipe line running down from the edge of the covered reservoir area toward HKU buildings. <Read more ...>
In 2008, the HK goverment funded a project to research Hong Kong’s War Crimes Trials conducted in the years 1946-1948. A total of 46 cases with 123 accused persons were studied. An overwiew of this project can be found here.
Of special interest might be the case WO235/1012:
In this case five Japanese officers were charged to have committed war crimes: <Read more ...>
Colonel Esao Tokunaga, held as a war criminal at Stanley Jail, Hong Kong. Tokunaga had been in charge of all prisoner of war camps in the Hong Kong area.
Charles Gesner van der Voort had started his career in Rotterdam, at Holland-China Trading Company (HCHC). In 1938, he went to Shanghai for the firm. The Japanese interned him, and most other Dutch nationals, from 1943-45. In camp, he met his wife Nancy and they married after the war. After a leave in The Netherlands, they returned to the Orient, where Charles continued to work for HCHC in Hong Kong.
