September 7th, 2003 | 
Dutch East Indies – Republic of Indonesia
In 1941 Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies, at that time a colony of the Netherlands. They landed on Celebes and on Tarakan island off Borneo, and raced West through the Moluccas, Timor and Bali to Java and Sumatra, stopping on each island for as long as it took to establish a garrison and construct an airfield. They were in Java by 28 February. On 9 March the Dutch forces surrendered, and the Dutch East Indies passed under Japanese control.
For the defeated troops more than three years’ captivity followed; years of great hardship in Singapore’s Changi prison camp and in the other camps which the Japanese ran with such careless indifference to the hunger, sickness and suffering of the inmates. An estimated 300,000 slave labourers died while constructing the notorious jungle railway from Siam to Burma; among them were some 12,000 Allied prisoners-of-war. Untold millions suffered throughout the Far East until August 1945 brought the Japanese surrender and liberation. (source )
The president to be of Indonesia, Soukarno, collaborated with the Japanese. Right after the capitulation of Japan, he declares the independent Republic of Indonesia on August 17 1945. The Dutch refused to accept this. At first both parties come to an agreement, the Agreement of Linggadjati.
Differing interpretations, however, made the agreement a dead letter from the beginning. In July 1947 the Dutch, in an attempt to settle matters by force, initiated what they termed a police action against the Republic. Its effect was to evoke UN intervention in the form of a Good Offices Committee, and it ended in the precarious Renville Agreement of January 1948. In December 1948 a second police action was launched.Meanwhile, the government of the republic faced some domestic opposition. In 1946 a left-wing plot was organized by followers of Ibrahim Datuk Tan Malaka, who opposed the policy of negotiation with the Dutch. This so-called July 3rd Affair was easily crushed. In September 1948 a more serious challenge in the form of a communist revolt (the Madiun Affair) was also defeated.
The second police action aroused American concern. It also closed Indonesian ranks firmly behind the republic. In these circumstances, The Netherlands, at a roundtable conference at The Hague, finally agreed in August 1949 to transfer sovereignty over its colony (with the exception of western New Guinea) to an independent United States of Indonesia in December 1949 ( source )
(Last page of the Agreement of Linggadjati, click on thumbnail for full size)
Queen Juliana
On September 4 1948 Queen Wilhelmina stepped down only to present her daughter to the Dutch people two days after as their new Queen. Queen Juliana was known mainly for her strong interest in society and the fact she wanted to be called misses instead of Majesty.
(Balcony scene at the inauguration of Queen Juliana, click on thumbnail for full size)
Flood Disaster 1953
Due to a fatal combination of a heavy storm and spring-tide, the dikes broke down in the night of saturday January 31 and sunday February 1, 1953, and major parts of the province of Zeeland, the South of Zuid-Holland and the West of Noord-Brabant were inundated. The dikes broke down at over 30 different places. On sunday, help was offered only in some areas. Only the day after that it became clear that some islands were entirely under water. On tuesday there were lots of evacuations and droppings of food. 1835 persons drowned, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated, hundreds of thousands of animals were drowned, 49 thousand farms and houses were overflown by the sea.
The government declared the disaster to be a National Disaster and the Dutch were urged to donate money to a special fund, to donate clothing and other useful supplies and to give shelter to people that were evacuated. February 8 was a day of National Mourning. Three weeks after the disaster a special commission was installed with the task of making plans for making the provinces involved safer. The advice of that commission led to the Delta Project (click for a 9 page PDF document).
(Click on thumbnail for full size)
The Greet Hofmans affaire 1956
Queen Juliana and her husband Bernard were worried about their daughter Marijke as she was suffering from an eye disease and doctors gave up hope. Bernard then contacted Greet Hofmans, a faith healer. Juliana surrounded herself by supporters of Greet Hofmans, much to the dissatisfaction of her husband, especially after Juliana gave some pacifistic speaches in America. The royal marriage was in danger. On June 7 1956, the German newspaper Der Spiegel published an article about the Dutch court, after a tip by Bernard. Premier Drees ordered Queen Juliana to break her ties with Hofman and the case was covered up as soon and efficiently as possible.
To be continued… (in the pipeline: Provo, Queen Beatrix, New Guinee, Dolle Mina’s and more)
