Adopted as sisters: 'People from Indonesia also immediately see that we are not sisters'

Mirjam and Doriet Begemann were adopted as biological sisters, but that turned out to be wrong. They are happy with the government's apologies for abuses in adoption practice, but believe that not enough is still happening. "We're banging on the door of a government that won't answer."

The birth certificates of Mirjam and Doriet Begemann contain the same names: mother Rasami and father Slamet. When Mirjam (43) and Doriet (41) were adopted together from Indonesia in 1979, no one had any doubts that they were sisters. Yet the names were forged in at least one of the two statements.

As a young girl, Doriet already sensed that the story was wrong. 'When I was seven years old, my adoptive mother said that it was so nice for me to be adopted together with Mirjam. That way I would always have a biological sister. "She's not my sister," I said at the time. I was just sure of that. '

Official confirmation came only 34 years later, after the sisters had taken a DNA test. 'It took me a long time to get emotion ...