How did the people of the free colonies live? That’s what the “colonial kings” tell themselves in sixteen video portraits. Now it is still possible. Humility has given way to colonial pride in Frederiksoord and Wilhelminaoord.
Life in the “free colonies” of the Maatschappij van Weldadigheid was not as “free” as the word suggests. Order and discipline, norms and values and a regentesque culture formed a tight corset. Scant wages and cap in hand to the director. A somewhat feudal atmosphere prevailed for a long time in the colonies of Frederiksoord and Wilhelminaoord, Willemsoord and Boschoord. Even into the 1970s.