Shoe polish tin with decorative painted finish : Mrs C M Levison (nee Touw), civil internee

English 'Nugget' brand shoe polish tin. The whole exterior of the tin has been painted chocolate brown. The lid has been further decorated with a spray of flowers and foliage in folk art style. Flowers are red, yellow, white and blue. The pivoted lid opening twist device on the side of the tin has been dabbed with yellow paint spots.

Mrs Corina Levison (nee Touw) was born on 2 July 1922 in Batavia (Jakarta) where her father worked for the Dutch East Indies Government. Her family moved around with her father's work and lived in various towns in Java and Sumatra. She married an Englishman, who worked for a British firm in Medan (Sumatra), in December 1941. When the Japanese captured Sumatra, she and her husband were interned in the native jail in Medan, in xeparate cells, along with about a dozen other British subjects, all males. Corina remained in the jail for 6 months from 13 March 1942 until mid September 1942. Then she was transferred to the Internment Camp at Pulau Brayan where the Dutch women and children were imprisoned. He mother and sister were in this camp. From therel they were moved to other internment camps at Glugur, and Aek Paminke, the latter in a rubber plantation deep in the interior of Sumatra, until they were liberated in August 1945.

Any empty tin and box that could be used for storage were precious in the camps. This one was decorated by Mrs Levison to depict a cottage garden, and was a present to her mother or sister.