By Monica Veerman Cluff Editor’s note: This article uses “Tjideng,” the colonial-era Dutch spelling. The modern Bahasa Indonesia spelling is “Cideng.” Both spellings appear in historical and contemporary sources. Finding the Words For those of us with roots in the wartime Dutch East Indies, our family’s stories often contain unspoken gaps. I’ve always been deeply…
New Book ‘The Sun In His Eyes’, a true story by Renée Belloni There is already so much turmoil and distress in the world, and here I am introducing my new book. I dedicate this book to peace in the world and peace starts within ourselves. The more peace there is within ourselves, the more…
by Wim Versteegh I was born in 1947, the seventh child in my family and the first to be born in the Netherlands. My six elder siblings were born on the island of Java, before World War II, a war that would change everything for us. Like the Dutch author Adriaan van Dis, I found…
by Saskia Rossi-van den Broek Marsini’s Gift – the Story of An Indo Family When Saskia Rossi left California in 2018 to return to Holland where she was born, she did not know that her life – she was already in her sixties – would take a staggering turn. First of all, her new home,…
by Ingrid Dümpel My name is Ingrid Dümpel and I was born and raised in Indië or the Dutch East Indies. Both my parents are ‘Indisch’—with paternal ancestors from the west and maternal ancestors from Indonesia. I realized what a privilege it was to have grown up there, when I started interviewing Indisch children who…
Lost History of the Depokkers; A Review of the Book ‘The Christian Slaves of Depok: A Colonial Tale Unravels’ by Dr. Kathryn Pentecost Overview The Christian Slaves of Depok: A Colonial Tale Unravels (2021) by Dr Nonja Peters is a highly readable and thoroughly researched book which details the little-known history of a group of colonial…
by Astrid Berg, PhD During childhood, I had little connection to my Indonesian roots. I rarely heard Maleis (Malay) or Javaans (Javanese) spoken. I only had a slight relationship to Indo/Indische customs and culture. Both my parents appeared European. My mother is Dutch, and the Indonesian influences were subtle in my Indo father. I was…
The First of its Kind in the English Language by Inez Hollander OK. I am biased. When Los Angeles-based entrepreneur and food writer, Jeff Keasberry, asked me to proofread his Indo Dutch Kitchen Secrets manuscript, the first cookbook for Indo Dutch cuisine in English, I said yes and found myself quickly immersed in his interesting family history and the…
Notes by: Willem ten Wolde Readers are encouraged to freely copy the .PDF file in whole or in part for their own informational, educational, and/or other non-commercial purposes, and for unlimited non-commercial redistribution, provided the following credit line is included: Used with permission. Copyright 2013, Antoni Harting. All rights reserved. Toni (Antoni) Harting was born…
By Willem ten Wolde I was researching books written in English about the Japanese prison or internment camps in the former Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, when I found Annelex Hofstra Layson’s autobiography Lost Childhood: My Life in a Japanese Prison Camp During World War II. I was intrigued because it was—so far—the only one…