Philo Bregstein interviewed Corinna van Schendel (1909-1985), daughter of the writer Arthur van Schendel (1874-1946). This great Dutch author is known, among other things, for the book Een zwerver verliefd. The interviews were conducted on behalf of a television portrait of her father’s life and work, entitled Dromen van leven, broadcast in the NCRV series “Open Boek” on August 22, 1977. Bregstein and Corinna van Schendel toured places where Van Schendel lived and wrote: Batavia, Florence, Sestri Levante and Amsterdam.

The interviews were conducted on behalf of the three-hour documentary film Indonesia Merdeka!, which Roelof Kiers made for the VPRO in 1976. The interviewees talk about the developments of the fight for independence in Indonesia before, during and after World War II until the transfer of sovereignty by the Netherlands on December 27, 1949. The documentary was first broadcast on Dec. 1, 1976. It was repeated several times thereafter.

Interviewees are:
– fam. M.E. Marsman, planters;
– Dr. Roeslan Abdulghani, nationalist youth leader, leader of revolution Surabaya, Ministry of Information of the Republic;
– mr. Mohammad Hatta, nationalist leader, vice-president republic of Indonesia;
– Dr. P.J. Koets, teacher, member thrust group, political advisor to lt. governor general, political advisor to HVK;
– General T.B. Simutapang, KNIL lieutenant, general staff TNI;
– General A.H. Nasoetion, ex-KNIL ensign, youth leader, commander Siliwangi division, TNI commander-in-chief;
– Dr. Abu Hanifa, physician;
– Johan Fabricius, BBC correspondent, journalist.

In the interview, Van Maarseveen (born 1910) talks about her life in the Dutch East Indies until 1946 and her role in the Indo-European women’s movement. It was the intention of SFW’s Sound Archive to produce a whole series of interviews on the life of the Dutch East Indies in the Dutch East Indies, in collaboration with historian Korver. The latter was preparing a dissertation on the subject. However, when Korver changed the subject, the series was not continued. 

The interviews were conducted as part of Dirk Vlasblom’s publication Papua: a history. This book covers five centuries of Papua’s history, focusing on the period from 1945 onwards and with a special focus on the transfer from the Netherlands to Indonesia in 1962. The book focuses on the perspective of Papuans.

The interviews focus on events and experiences in the years 1920 – 2004.
They mainly discuss Indonesia and West Papua. Themes include World War II, Indonesian revolution, transfer to Indonesia in 1962, occupation.

The collection has been digitised and stored permanently at an e-depot.

Dirk Vlasblom (1952) studied cultural anthropology in Utrecht. With a brief interruption, he has been a correspondent for NRC Handelsblad in Jakarta since 1990. He previously published Jakarta, Jakarta – Reportages from Indonesia (1993), In a warung on the South Sea – Stories from Indonesia (1998) and Anchors & Chains – A Rotterdam Chronicle (2001).
In a compelling way, the author tells the stories of Papua. For this, he drew on unique sources. Protagonists and eyewitnesses speak for themselves, often for the first time. The archives of mission and mission were systematically researched for this book, also for the first time.
With this magisterial work, the author gives the Papuans their history.

Japan’s capitulation marked the end of World War II, but also the beginning of the mass exodus of people with Dutch citizenship from the Dutch East Indies.

Some 100,000 Dutch Indians (both of European and European-Asian descent) arrived in the Netherlands on ships in the first years after the war. They came to recover from the hardships of war, internment camps and violence during the struggle for independence, which had erupted immediately after the Japanese surrender.

The series of interviews involves mostly short conversations (ranging from four to 40 minutes) with Dutch East Indies people. They discuss their arrival in the Netherlands and their assimilation into Dutch society. The material was used for an NOS radio program, broadcast in March 1971.

Interviewer(s): Dick Verkijk

Interviewees:

Ms. van Bamiset, Mr. Bochove, Mr. Corsmit, Mr. Doeff, Fermin February, Mr. Hakker, Mr. and Mrs. Heering, ir. van Helsdingen, Mr. and Mrs. Jans, Dr. Kraak, Prof. Dr. van Lier, Ms. Nicola, Mr. Oort, K. Pavilcek, father and son Pietersz, Mr. Pratacik, Coen Pronk, Mr. de Riemer, Mr. Robinson, drs. H. Ruiter, ir. J. Sluyters, prof. dr. J.D. Spekman, mr. and mrs. Tielman, ir. de Vries

Museum Maluku has several interviews in its collection collected for various reasons.
The interviews discuss events and experiences in the years 1930 – 2006.
They are mainly about the Netherlands, Groningen and Indonesia, the Moluccas. Themes include camp elders, Carel Coenraadpolder (CC polder), Commission Rechtspositie Ambonese Militairen en Schepelingen (CRAMS), Dutch Royal Navy.

Interviews were prompted by the death of Gerrit ter Haars (Overijssel Dutch East Indies New Guinea Working Group) brother in Indonesia during the Indonesian war of independence and his feeling that Dutch veterans had been wronged.

Both Collection Overijssel (formerly Historical Centre Overijssel) and NIOD facilitated the interviews
facilitated by providing cameras and tapes. The objective was to
generate more attention to this war and all those involved through the publication of a book.
Participants were found through personal networks and snowball sampling.

The interviews focus on events and experiences in the years 1942 – 1962.
They mainly discuss Indonesia, the Netherlands and New Guinea. Themes include Second
World War, Indonesian revolution, reoccupation, independence struggle, war volunteers, conscripts, veterans, Darul Islam, TNI.

De oorlog ver weg, 1942-1949
Nederlands-Indie, de Japanse bezetting en de politionele acties

Auteur: Gerrit ter Haar

Uitgever: Gigaboek, Broek op Langedijk, 2013

ISBN: 9789085483755

De oorlog ver weg, 1949-1962

verhalen via interviews van burgers, militairen die de oorlog in Indië hebben meegemaakt

Auteur: Gerrit Ter Haar

Uitgever: Abc Uitgeverij, 2015
ISBN: 9789079859238

Archive and inventory no: D H 1565. The cassette tapes have been transferred to the AV collection of the KITLV.

The interviews are part of the working material resulting from the curriculum at the UvA on the history of the former Dutch East Indies led by Theo Stevens. P. Schuurmans was allowed to use these interviews for her doctoral thesis Adapting to Holland. The collection consists of the research material belonging to Schuurmans’ thesis.

Besides transcripts of several interviews, the collection also contains a notebook with notes and completed survey forms.

The interviews focus on events and experiences in the years 1942 – 1963.
They mainly discuss Indonesia and the Netherlands. Themes include World War II,
Indonesian revolution, migration, repatriation.

Publications linked to the collection: Schuurmans, P. (2002). Adapting to Holland: research
on Indonesian Dutch and their experience of repatriation 1950-1963 [Doctoral thesis]. University
of Amsterdam.

Herman Teerhöfer managed to interview a large number of survivors, starting from their life stories, about their personal experience and perception of the events and circumstances before, during and after World War II.

The poignant stories have been recorded in people’s homes, in image and sound. All interviewees also give a message for future generations in the interview.

Central questions in the interviews are:

• How were they able to survive and what did they draw strength from?

• Where did they draw mental support from? What was their footing?

• How did they make sense of their lives after the war despite many experiences of loss and trauma?

• How did they experience anti-Semitism prior to and after World War II?

• What message do they have for future generations regarding tolerance and forbearance?

   

   

From the testimonies and stories goes the warning “Never again war” and at the same time they call for cherishing and celebrating the freedom we now enjoy.

Wide-ranging interviews
Over the years, a large collection of interviews has been produced. The topics cover a wide range of aspects of World War II, due to the diverse background and environment the interviewees were in.

Smolinski Foundation aims to unlock a large collection of interviews in a way suitable for use during lessons in schools and presentations for cultural and civil society organisations. Digital, interactive teaching materials are also being developed. Interview fragments can also be used in museum presentations.

Overview of available interviews

• 84 life stories of Auschwitz survivors:
  • 20 interviewees were deported from Camp Vught to Auschwitz
  • 28 interviewees were deported to Auschwitz from Camp Westerbork
  • 36 interviewees were deported to Auschwitz from other camps and ghettos outside the Netherlands
• 25 life stories of Jewish people who managed to survive in hiding during World War II
• 11 life stories of people who participated in the Jewish resistance during World War II
• 8 life stories of survivors of Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen
• 3 life stories of survivors of Westerbork only
• 1 life story of a survivor of e.g. Camp Amersfoort
• 10 life stories of survivors of Japanese camps in the former Dutch East Indies
• 2 life stories of people who were children of NSB parents during World War II
• 8 life stories of resistance fighters and former political prisoners from Camp Vught
• 20 life stories of people who survived the Second World War and who, for example, witnessed a bombing (Nijmegen, Tilburg or Rotterdam), or experienced the hunger winter, or joined the Allies at liberation, or other testimonies of the Second World War in the Netherlands
• 10 life stories of people who witnessed the persecution of Jews in, for example, Amsterdam, Leiden and Tilburg, people who witnessed prisoners being put to work outside the camp in Camp Amersfoort or Camp Vught during World War II. These people lived in the immediate vicinity of Camp Amersfoort or Camp Vught at the time of the war.
• 10 life stories of people who experienced Anne Frank before and/or during the war in Amsterdam and/or in Westerbork, Auschwitz-Birkenau and/or Bergen-Belsen. They were classmates or close friends of Anne Frank in Amsterdam, or they were fellow prisoners in Westerbork, Auschwitz-Birkenau and/or Bergen-Belsen.

Indië in je Ziel are the personal stories of those who lived through the time of the Japanese occupation, and those who know its consequences as spouses, children, grandchildren and, yes, even great-grandchildren. How did the war and the East Indies affect their lives? From then till now. How does this make you feel? And what do you do with it?

Reason for the documentary project Indië in je Ziel was the expected great attention to the Indonesian war of independence in connection with the research results of the research programme Independence, decolonisation, violence and war in Indonesia, 1945 – 1950 of the Royal Institute of Language, Land and Ethnology (KITLV), the Netherlands Institute for Military History (NIMH) and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

The War Stories Foundation wanted to start a project in which the violence of that time is given a place in personal testimonies. Main questions are: How did the war and the East Indies affect your life? How does it make you feel? And what do you do with it?

War Stories Foundation is still collecting stories to be recorded under the same project name.

Themes include World War II, Japanese occupation, Indonesian revolution, reoccupation, internment camps, prisoners of war, migration, trauma.

Pia Media produced five TV broadcasts for Omroep MAX Indië in je Ziel in 2022 (in the final phase of the project) in which (some of) these interviews were used.

Indië in je Ziel

Five short documentaries by the War Stories Foundation portraying both Dutch East Indies and Indies veterans. It also shows how their experiences continue to have an impact on the second, third and sometimes even fourth generation: they too have the Dutch East Indies in their souls today.