ABSTRACT
There is a brief period in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War in Singapore that has remained largely neglected in public memory. Between 15 August 1945, when the Emperor of Japan ordered all units of the Japanese military to surrender, and 4 September 1945, when the British military landed in Singapore, there was a distinct absence of law and order. Collaborators were hunted down, assaulted and, in some cases, tortured and murdered. Utilising oral history accounts housed at the National Archives of Singapore (NAS) and personal memoirs, this chapter examines these revenge killings in Singapore. It also explores the reasons why, in Singapore, narratives about collaboration and revenge killings are absent from the public recollection of the Japanese Occupation during the Second World War.
