Ceremonies are taking place across the country on Friday to commemorate the Japanese surrender 80 years ago in what was then the Dutch East Indies, heralding the official end of the Second World War.

Interest in the commemoration of the event is growing, with ceremonies now taking place in 13 new places, bringing the total to 65, organising committee Nationale Herdenking 15 augustus 1945 said.

The Japanese occupied the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, between 1942 and 1945, subjecting the local population to forced labour and starvation while tens of thousands of Europeans and troops languished in internment camps.

Indonesia declared independence two days after the liberation, but the Netherlands only recognised the new country four years later following a bloody postcolonial war, after coming under pressure from the United States to end the conflict.

The commemorations are drawing a growing number of young people wishing to raise awareness of a period in history that was not widely known about.

“The Netherlands was busy rebuilding the country at the time,” Hélène Oppation of the committee told broadcaster NOS. “And many people did not know about the atrocities in Asia. Some said: ‘It can’t have been that bad and at least you had a bit of sun’.”

The first generation of Dutch East Indians did not speak about their experiences, Oppatia said, and the second generation was too busy doing other things. “The adage was: assimilate. You adapt to Dutch society and you work to have a career,” she said.

That started to change in 2000, when more young descendants of survivors started to organise ceremonies in their own cities and villages. “They see this as something important to their Dutch East Indian identity,” Oppatia said.

Presenter Rocky Tuhuteru is organising a ceremony in Leidschendam to honour KNIL soldier Petrus Pieter de Kock, who died some years ago aged 103.

“New generations don’t want to remain silent, they want to know,” he said. De Kock found it difficult to talk about the war, Tuhuteru said. “He suffered much but he survived. If you don’t talk about it, it doesn’t exist. But we are no longer silent.”

The traditional commemoration of the Japanese surrender is at the Indisch Monument in The Hague, which will be broadcast live from 7 pm on NPO1.