Interviews with Dutch Indonesians, Japanese who played a role during the occupation, officers and other military personnel (British Army, British Indian Army, Dutch Army, KNIL), Indonesian nationalists and Dutch civil servants.
The interviews were conducted for Bosdriesz’s (16mm) film Ons Indië voor de Indonesiërs (Our Indies for the Indonesians). This film was broadcast by the NOS in 1984 as a television series and can be found in DAAN, the digital archive of Sound & Vision. The aim of the filmmakers was to capture the decisive developments in the Indonesian struggle for independence by recording the positions and experiences of the interviewees. The focus was on the period of the Second World War and the year that followed. The interviews were subsequently also used for a book.
The interviews deal with events and experiences in the years 1940-1950. The interviews mainly concern Indonesia and the Netherlands. Themes include the Indonesian struggle for independence, the Second World War, the Japanese occupation, the Westerling coup, the transfer of sovereignty, internment, independence, the administrative vacuum, the power vacuum, Hatta, Soekarno, Van Mook, Spoor, Westerling, federalists, nationalists and diplomatic consultations.
From various perspectives, the interviewer’s book Ons Indië voor de Indonesiërs (Our Indies for the Indonesians) describes the war, the chaos, the freedom and the process of detachment from the colony of the Indies. A mixture of experiences and opinions, Japanese, English, Javanese and Dutch, create a good picture of the historical course of events.
Title: Ons Indië voor de Indonesiërs de oorlog, de chaos, de vrijheid
Authors: Jan Bosdriesz, Gerard Soeteman, C. van Heekeren, Nederlandse Omroep Stichting
ISBN: 9789061354017
Year: 1985