by Astrid Berg, PhD Adapted from Mixed Blood : Reconciling My Colonial Family’s History in the Dutch East Indies. Before the Japanese occupation in 1942, my grandparents lived on Tegalsari 78, a home with open verandas and a large garden in a wealthy neighborhood of Surabaya. My grandfather had been promoted to head superintendent of…
by Astrid Berg, Ph.D. Introduction: Understanding Collective Trauma Integration The Collective Trauma Integration Process (CTIP) supports individuals and groups in integrating trauma that has been passed down through generations and is embedded in cultural systems—such as slavery, war, genocide, and racism. As Thomas Hübl teaches, these traumas live not only in our nervous systems, but also…
by Karel Wagemans – first published in Dutch on January 20, 2025 Introduction: Remembering the Origins of Herdenking As the Indo community and others with family history in the Dutch East Indies commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in the Pacific, it is worth remembering how the tradition of Herdenking—the…
By Edward E. E. Frietman This is the final installment of a special three-part series (see part 1 and part 2) featuring the firsthand experiences of Edward E. E. Frietman. In this chapter, he continues the story of how his family endured and survived the turbulent Bersiap period following the end of World War II.…
Want to learn (more) about WWII in the Dutch East Indies, the Bersiap Period and the Independence War? Watch the 40-minute documentary by Simone Berger & Armando Ello with English subtitles. On December 3, 2023, The Indo Project hosted a live online Q&A session with the filmmakers. Over 60 people signed up and submitted questions,…
Half goed is niet goed, half waar is niet waar, halfheid leidt tot niets. ~ Multatuli, Max Havelaar The following is an opinion piece and a personal story. I’m writing this for The Indo Project as I feel that many supporters of The Indo Project have a similar story to tell. It’s the other…
In the last few weeks, The Netherlands’ colonial closet was ripped wide open in a fight about who gets to determine what the former colonial power did and did not do in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). It started with the Revolusi exhibit in the Rijksmuseum about the Indonesian independence, which is now open to…
The official opening of the exhibition Ons Land – decolonization, generations and stories, was February 8th, 2022. Representatives of The Indo Project were invited to take a sneak peek at the Sophiahof Museum in The Hague. ‘Ons Land’ is Dutch for Our Country. This exhibition is about Dutch colonial history in the East and how…
We’ve all been there. Just go back in time and think of your elementary school antics. In the schoolyard someone lashes out and says But you’re a moron. The answer that may come back when there is no good answer: No, you’re a moron. And then there is always that line of last resort and…
The Back Story In light of the upcoming REVOLUSI exhibit at the Rijksmuseum which deals with the independence struggle of Indonesia, one of the Indonesian curators, Bonnie Triyana, publicly announced that the word “bersiap” should be (and was going to be) omitted from the exhibit. He argued that the term, when used by Dutch people,…