A. Schoonheyt, a government doctor in the Indies who had become a NSB supporter, and Lo Hartog van Banda, a Dutch cartoonist who had been a Conscientious objector.

Eight people died in the camp during its existence, including two who were shot to death by marines while in handcuffs, which led to a government investigation in 1949–50.

[4] Since the late 1920s Dutch colonial authorities had experimented with building remote internment camps in the Dutch East Indies for members of banned political parties, most notably the Boven-Digoel concentration camp located near present-day Merauke, Indonesia, where they interned members of the Indonesian Communist Party and other nationalists.

[6] These prisoners were initially detained on Onrust Island, Ngawi, and other sites in East Java; none faced trial or were charged with any crimes.

[8][1] The camp site which was prepared for them in Surinam was named after the nearby ruins of an abandoned 17th century Jewish settlement, Jodensavanne.

[2][1] Upon arriving in the camp, internees were immediately put to work in hard labour in a "green hell", denied medication for dysentery, and subjected to degrading hazing tactics, despite not having been charged with any crime.

[1] Van Banda, the future cartoonist, at times refused his work detail and would spend months in solitary confinement.

[13][14] It later came out in the 1949 investigation that they had escaped to a nearby Indigenous village called Casipoera on November 4, but had already been arrested and were in custody for three days when they were tortured and then killed on the direct order of Colonel Meijer.

[18] While they were still imprisoned, the camp started to fall into disrepair, such as a broken generator which meant that the buildings had no lights for some time in March 1946.

[14] Since the marines had dumped Raedt van Oldenbarnevelt, who had survived for a few hours after the shooting, at the steps of the nearest hospital, there were a number of witnesses outside of the camp guard ranks.