The aim of the interview project was to capture life stories of the first generation. They were asked about their experiences in the first 20 years in the Netherlands.

The interviews focus on events and experiences in the years 1930 – 1991 with an emphasis on 1951 – 1976. They mainly discuss the Netherlands, Indonesia, the Moluccas.
Themes include government policy, integration, resistance, domestic governance, RMS government.

Sometimes there are several inventory numbers per person.

The interviews were conducted for the dissertation by J. Bank, Catholics and the Indonesian Revolution, Baarn: Ambo, 1983.
They deal with the Indonesia policy of the Dutch government and in particular the attitude of the KVP in this regard. With the then PvdA party leader Van der Goes van Naters, they discuss the relationship between the PvdA and KVP factions on the Indonesian issue. De Graaf, Indonesia specialist of the KVP group in the late 1940s, is asked about the development of the Indonesia position within the group. With Van Aarden, secretary of the Centrum voor Staatkundige Vorming in the period in question, Bank talks, among other things, about the relationship of this scientific institute of the KVP to party leadership and group, and about the group’s Indonesia policy and its influence on the party.

The interviews focus on events and experiences in the years 1940 – 1976.
They mainly discuss Indonesia and the Netherlands. Themes include Indonesia policy, PvdA faction, KVP faction.

Bank discusses the attitudes of Catholics in the Netherlands and the East Indies at the church and political levels towards the emasculation of the East Indies in the period 1945-1949. But he cites so much and describes various aspects in such detail that the book is also a study of the entire field of the decolonisation of the East Indies. Stories about the struggle for independence, the role of the British until autumn 1946, the spread of nationalism, rise and fall of federalism, the policies of the Dutch government and that of Batavia, decision-making in Djokjakarta, the international scene, military operations, the Catholic parties both in the Netherlands and in the East Indies, mission and mission etc.

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.

This collection revolves around the interviewing of Suparna S. Diredja by Celia Mather; these interviews took place in 1982-1983 in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands; the collection contains also documentation materials on the economic and political situation in Indonesia. See also ‘Yes, We Did It! How the World’s Domestic Workers Won Their International Rights and Recognition’, a publication by Celia Mather.

Descriptions of the digital files are based on the captions of the physical medium. In case of a cassette each side (side A and side B) is described as a separate unit. The collection originally consisted of 12 cassettes with the call numbers GC5/638-649.

Interview by Celia Mather with Suprana Sastra Diredja, Usin Sutiwo, Bapak, Ibu Didi (mr. and mrs. Didi), Aslam and Muntaib.

Suparna Sastra Diredja. FOTO/Istimewa

Celia Mather has been a writer on workers’ rights in the global economy since the early 1980s. She was the report-writer for the European (2005) and global (2006) conferences for domestic workers’ organizations, and then supported the International Domestic Workers’ Network by writing leaflets, newsletters, policy
documents, presentations and speeches, including during the process of winning their ILO Convention C189 in 2011.

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

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Collection Interviews Lodewijk de Waal

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Collection Interviews Henk Muller

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