by Ingrid Dümpel Emmy Verhoeff was born on December 6, 1939 in the beautiful mountain town of Malang, East Java. She experienced the entire war period in the Dutch East Indies. Shortly after the end of the war, in 1946, she lost her father. He worked for the police and was on patrol. The circumstances…
On August 15, 2023, the victims of the Second World War in the former Dutch East Indies were commemorated in over fifty places in the Netherlands. The war experiences and the large-scale displacement that followed are still affecting two million people in the Netherlands with an Indies family war story and in the Dutch society…
De Geest Overwint The Indo Project was honored to host its first annual Commemoration and Liberation Ball on Saturday, August 12, 2023, in Buena Park, California. This important event is about our shared heritage and a tribute to generations that came before us. The event’s theme was “De Geest Overwint” which in Dutch translates to…
by Jane Vogel Mantiri Introduction I met Sonja in October 2011, almost seven decades after Papa was captured by the Japanese, shackled, and forced to work the Death Railway in Siam (Thailand) as a POW (prisoner of war). Papa would endure almost four years of torture before he was released from hell. He never told…
By Gerard Willem Charles Lemmens The Imperial War Museum in London asked me to write the following story. The Dutch East Indies Around my birth on April 24th, 1940, in the R.C. hospital of Surabaya, my parents bought this rattle at the silversmith—de Wolf—in honor of my birth. I (Gerard Willem Charles Lemmens) was the…
On Sunday, April 30, 2023, The Indo Project was present at the well-attended 33rd Annual Holland Festival celebrating Dutch King’s Day in Long Beach, California. This year the two annual Dutch events, Holland Festival and Dutch King’s Day, merged into ONE BIG EVENT! Over two thousand people showed up for this Dutch American gathering celebrating…
In Colorado, Indos are meeting regularly to share a meal and build community. The Colorado Kumpulan is hosted by Lies Dohne and Teda DaCosta. The group of 40+ members meet for lunch every month at different restaurants, mostly Asian, in the greater Denver Area. If you live in Denver, the Colorado Kumpulan is a great…
by Sheldon A. Krancher On September 1, 1939, the world changed. My world changed. I wasn’t born yet, but on that day my father was born. He was born Jan Adolf Krancher to his parents Ludwig Krancher and Henriette Krancher. He was the second of three children born in Malang on the island of Java…
The Indo Project is asking you to save the date: Sunday, April 30th, 2023. There will be an ultimate event this year: the combination of the annual Holland Festival and the annual Dutch King’s Day celebration! This will allow everyone a unified event to celebrate our Dutch and Dutch East Indies heritage background. This event…
by Jane Vogel Mantiri War is hell. My parents survived two wars: World War II and the Indonesian National Revolution that followed. Although those wars ended, my parents’ trauma never did. This story is dedicated to my parents. I was my parents’ only daughter. My father was a brave, strong, and loving man who lived…