After the 30 September 1965 coup, many Indonesians were killed and thousands were imprisoned on suspicion of communist and leftist sympathies. After returning to Indonesian society, they faced stigmatisation.

The Taporal project started in the 1990s. After years of repression and silence, former political prisoners began writing down their memories of the period after the 30 September 1965 coup, their imprisonment and the years after their release. Others were unable or unwilling to write down their stories. They were asked to record their experiences in an interview. The aim of the project was to record as many life stories of ex-political prisoners as possible to ensure that this part of history would not be (consciously) forgotten. The project received partial funding from the IISH in 1993.

The interviews focus on events and experiences in the years 1945 – 2000. They mainly discuss Indonesia. Themes include internment camps, concentration camps, political prisoners, forced labour camps, 30 September 1965 coup, stigmatisation, Suharto regime.

Indonesian soldier before executing so-called communist suspects. [Source:  insideindonesia.com]

The interviews were most likely conducted in Indonesia during Frans Stultiëns’ correspondentship for KRO. They are complete unedited interviews. The interviews were recorded after the release of political prisoners from 1978, on the occasion of then Prime Minister Van Agt’s visit to Indonesia in April 1980 and in the run-up to the Indonesian parliamentary elections in May 1982.

The recordings are housed at the IISH through Komitee Indonesia.

The interviews focus on events and experiences in the years 1960 – 1981. They mainly discuss Indonesia and the Moluccas, Buru. Themes include. political prisoners, statement by Dutch government at press conference Jakarta 1980, Suharto, power elites, corruption, comparison situation Iran and Indonesia, special forces, riots in Makassar, racialism, religion, military service, business interests, political prison camp Buru, isolation, contact outside world, suicide, rape, women’s section, youth movement, women’s movement, peasant movement, young prisoners, pregnancy, future of Indonesia, neo-colonial regime, Poncke Princen, human rights, political situation, consequences of political imprisonment, labor camp, escape attempts, poor sanitary conditions.

The collection was recorded in the late 1990s. Hersri Setiawan, himself a political prisoner (tapol) from 1969 to 1978 in Jakarta and on the island of Buru, conducted the interviews in various countries in Europe and Asia. The aim was to collect individual life stories of Indonesian political emigrants who still live or were living in Western Europe, China, Vietnam and Indonesia. The interviews explore their activities as part of the Indonesian left-wing intelligentsia before 30 September 1965 and their lives after 1965 outside Indonesia. The project was supervised by Henk Schulte Nordholt and Willem van Schendel and funded by the Ford Foundation. In addition to the interviews, a large number of ego documents were collected including memoirs, reports and letters from or about Institute of People’s Culture (LEKRA), the trade union movement and the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), among others.

Interviews with former CPN members by students at the University of Groningen

31 cassettes – 15 interviews:

R. van Bueren-Schalker, Jaap ten Dam, Joop van Esch, J. Knukkel, H.F. Koning, Dick van der Meer, J. van de Meulenhof, B. Kastelijn, K.F. Neyssel, A. van Reemst, L. Schalker, L.J. Schmidt, D. Smook, A. Verreijt, J. van. Vineyards

40 cassettes – 20 interviews:

René Dammen, C.J. Drost, Trees Enink, Ebel Glastra, Hans Heres, Daan Lataster, Klaas-Gert Lugtenborg, Fred Luider, Laurens Meerten, R. Meinds, Joop Morriën, Aiko Platje, M. Reining, J.G. Schoemaker, A. Schwertman, Koert Stek, Visser, Jaap Wolff, Thewis Wits, C. IJmkers

Wim Pelt (born Heerlen 1947) learnt the pastry trade and worked in his father’s bakery from 1965-1970. He studied history at the University of Utrecht and the University of Amsterdam in the 1970s and was active in the CPN in the 1970s and 1980s, including in the daily management of the Limburg and Utrecht districts, instructor for the CPN in the Vecht-IJsselstreek district, co-responsible for subscriber recruitment and delivery of De Waarheid in the Rotterdam district, member of the coordination group of the IPSO history group, member of the editorial board of Komma. Pelt worked as a teacher in vocational education.

Wim Pelt received his PhD with Peace through Revolution. The CPN during the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (1939-1941)

The role of the CPN in the first year of the occupation has long been a fraught topic, which supporters and opponents of that party could not reasonably discuss. A truly detached scholarly treatment did not come until H. Galesloot and S. Legêne’s book, Partij in het verzet (1986), which devotes just under 100 pages to the controversial period. Again, almost half of W. F. S. Pelt’s dissertation deals with that first year of occupation, though no longer as part of the history of occupation: Pelt’s subject is the period from the conclusion of the German-Russian pact of 23 August 1939 until the German invasion of the Soviet Union and the politics conducted by the CPN during that period. So it is not the domestic political situation in the Netherlands that determines Pelt’s periodisation, but the foreign-political position of the Soviet Union.

Eric de Lange (1947-2003), sociologist, researched Socialist Youth of the Netherlands founded in 1960.

From the contact between the Zaanse PSP youth and members of the radical Politeia branch in Rotterdam; movement for young people that had to fill a gap after the disappearance of traditional socialist youth movements. SJ had revolutionary socialist foundations and sought a better society through actions and study circles. In this new movement, Politeians dominated. SJ became a small but very active and disciplined organisation. It tried to uphold the traditional ideals and symbols of the socialist labour movement. Examples included Pentecostal camps, the address title of ‘comrade’ and the wearing of blue shirts.

Interviews by Henne Pauli on Wim Kok’s presidency of the FNV with Joop den Uyl, Chris van Veen, Piet Vos and Kok himself.

Joop den Uyl in July 1983. 83 min.

Chris van Veen, chairman of the Confederation of Dutch Enterprises (VNO). 97 min.

Piet Vos, secretary of the Industrial Union FNV. 139 min.

Wim Kok. 93 min.

Interviews by Pauli with politicians and union officials: Willem Aantjes, Fons Arnolds, Wim Duisenberg, Ruud Lubbers, Greetje Lubbi, Piet Steenkamp, Jan Terlouw and Karin Adelmund.

Willem Aantjes and Ruud Lubbers on 25 October 1978 following the debate on ‘Bestek ’81’ . 124 min.

Fons Arnolds, expert on the Catholic labour movement, on 20 March 1983 on the future of the FNV . 124 min.

Wim Duisenberg on 16 July 1984 on the SER. 91 min.

Greetje Lubbi, president of the Food Union FNV, on 20 March 1983. on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Karl Marx’s death on Marx’s traces in the trade union movement. 94 min.

Piet Steenkamp on working time reduction. 62 min.

Jan Terlouw on a report released by D’66 on technological innovation and socio-economic policy. 65 min.

Karin Adelmund. 45 min.

The International Institute of Social History (IISH) in Amsterdam has been investing in so-called ‘oral history projects’ for several years now. Which means, among other things: gaining insight into aspects of social and trade union history through conversations and interviews, which you don’t find so directly in most written or digital material.
This led in 2016-2017 to a series of extensive and fascinating interviews with Wim Kok (1938-2018), followed in 2018 by a series of no less exciting conversations with Lodewijk de Waal.
In early 2023, the next shoot on the trunk of this project saw the light of day: the Henk Muller tapes. Four interviews with this dyed-in-the-wool trade unionist.

The result: many hours of unique trade union historical video material. Below is the complete overview and links to the interviews.

Collection Interviews Wim Kok

COLL00306

Collection Interviews Lodewijk de Waal

COLL00540

Collection Interviews Henk Muller

COLL00691

The Trade Union Historical Society was founded in 1983; its objectives were to increase knowledge of trade union history and promote interest in the history of the trade union movement.

This audio collection features interviews with members of the St Eloy Katholieke Arbeidersbeweging, Algemeene Nederlandsche Metaalbewerkerbond Rotterdam, the Algemene Nederlandse Bouwarbeidersbond, ABB and ABVA, Amsterdam, NVV, Friesland, the Transportbond and the Algemene Nederlandse Diamantbewerkerbond.

The archive was deposited with the IISH in 2005 by the VHV “Friends of the History of the Trade Union Movement” Foundation; with an addition in 2018 from IISH backlogs and in 2021 from Jacques van Gerwen.

Gerrit (Ger) Johannes Verrips; born in Amsterdam 18 December 1928, died in Amsterdam 31 August 2015; active member of the PvdA 1948-1952; member of the CPN 1953-1975; editor of the communist daily De Waarheid 1960-1968; member of the party executive of the CPN 1958-1964 again member of the PvdA from 1985; member of the editorial board of the monthly Socialisme en Democratie; chairman of the Fonds voor de Letteren 1980-1987; published a number of novels, of which Nathalie is probably the best known, and biographies of Albert Camus and Karel van het Reve.

In 1995, his magnum opus Dwars, duivels and dreaming appeared. The history of the CPN 1938-1991.

Interviews with Harry Verheij, Marcus Bakker, Henk Goudkuil, Duco Hellema, Henk Hoekstra, Hanneke Jagersma, J.C.W., Esther de Jong, Bertus Brandsen, Gerrit Kleinveld, Gerard Maas, Geert van der Molen, Frans Molin, Koert Stek, Jan Vlietman, Jaap Wolff, Joop Morriën.

CPN-conference in Amsterdam, Paul de Groot (left) and Marcus Bakker. 22 December 1973, Amsterdam

Dwars, Duivels en Dromend is a 1995 book by Ger Verrips that deals with the history of the Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN) from 1938 to 1991.

Verrips, himself a member of the CPN for 20 years, based the book on never-before-examined documents, in the hitherto closed archives of the CPN in Amsterdam, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in Moscow and the Internal Security Service. He spoke to several prominent members of the party, including Annie van Ommeren-Averink, Bertus Brandsen, Harry Verheij, Jan Vlietman and Huib Zegeling.

He sketches a portrait of Paul de Groot, forty years the leader of the CPN. He describes the functioning of the illegal CPN during the war years and the communists’ resistance. He also describes the Cold War, the reactions to the Hungarian Uprising, the break with Moscow and the internal party struggle. Also described are the final period of crisis, intellectual revival, feminisation and the eventual decline that led to the dissolution of the party, which eventually led to its merger with other parties into GroenLinks.