Van Indonesische urn tot Indisch monument. Vijftig jaar Nederlandse herinnering aan de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Azië

Abstract

Annelies van der Schaten Olivier met haar nationaal feestschortje en een feesttoeter op 5 mei 1947. 'Memories of the Second World War in international comparative perspective' (RIOD, Amsterdam). Sindsdien verschenen literatuur is in de annotatie verwerkt. Ik ben de betrokkenen bij de Indische monumenten, die ik indertijd heb mogen interviewen zeer erkentelijk voor hun bereidheid mij in hun kennis over dit onderwerp te laten delen:

Competitive or multidirectional memory? The interaction between postwar and postcolonial memory in the Netherlands

“…Furthermore, it could refer to the war after 1945, and the commission was adamantly against such an extension: the purpose of the monument was exclusively remembrance of World War II. 17 In the end, an Indonesian urn was added to the monument only in April 1950, a couple of months after the Dutch had reluctantly recognized the independence of Indonesia. The urn carried the inscription 1941 -45, to refer to the Pacific theatre of World War II, but it was possible to also associate it with the struggle that had developed after August 1945.…”

“…The original design factored in urns from the Antilles and Surinam-the other Dutch colonies-but these, in the end, were never included. 19 Historian Elsbeth Locher-Scholten has argued that the Pacific war memories in this period could only be included in the Dutch memory culture of World War II through a 'depoliticization', meaning a separation of the memories of 1941-45 from those of the war of decolonization . In this way, Pacific war memories were assimilated into national World War II memory symbolized in the Indies' urn, whereas, simultaneously, the Indonesian Revolution was 'split off from public memory and forgotten'.…”

“…It is often claimed in the literature that the metropolitan memory of World War II overshadowed Asian war memories of the period 1942-49. 37 Indeed, it is true that cultural memory of World War II was far more present in postwar and postcolonial Dutch society than cultural memory of the wars in the (former) colony. However, it is important to see that the existent national commemoration discourse made it possible for-in this case-the Indies veterans to sometimes step out of this shadow.…”

Competitive or multidirectional memory? The interaction between postwar and postcolonial memory in the Netherlands

“…A more substantial argument for the problematic relationship was the painful decolonization process. With the colonial war already controversial among contemporaries, 21 public remembering on 4 May of the victims of the Indonesian Revolution became a delicate matter, lacking the national consensus that existed for the active victims of World War II.…”

“…37 Indeed, it is true that cultural memory of World War II was far more present in postwar and postcolonial Dutch society than cultural memory of the wars in the (former) colony. However, it is important to see that the existent national commemoration discourse made it possible for-in this case-the Indies veterans to sometimes step out of this shadow.…”