Rotterdam and the Dutch East Indies

The project “Rotterdam and the Dutch East Indies” is about how returnees from the former Dutch East Indies ended up in Rotterdam in the 1950s and 1960s. The project also marks the launch of Rotterdam heritage organisation Heritage Retrievers, a new cultural institution that will focus on personal family histories.

In collaboration with ‘Stichting Herdenking 15 augustus regio Rotterdam’, an afternoon took place on 15 August 2023 after the commemoration at the Dutch East Indies monument on the Boompjes, during which staff of Stadsarchief were present in the library and the Verolme hall of Maritiem Museum Rotterdam to look at family albums, possibly scan them, metadata them and, if possible, add them to the city collection. The intention is for it to culminate in an online exhibition and, if the finds warrant it, a museum-wide offline exhibition in 2024.