One more thing ...
Letters from the war - a true story, by Piet Roukens
The battle for Indonesian Independence (1945 - 1950)
Piet Roukens
Storyteller
Meet Piet Roukens – my grandfather. As a 19 year old boy, in 1946, my grandfather sets sail to Indië (modern day Indonesia). Piet is stationed in Indonesia until mid 1950, as army soldier in the KNIL (Dutch East Indies Army). During his stay he corresponds with his sister Marianne in the Netherlands. These letters form the backbone of this project.
Janneke Hazelaar
Narrator
Meet Janneke Hazelaar – me! When my grandfather passed away in 2019, he left me 68 letters, addressed to Marianne, from Indonesia. As my grandfather is no longer with us, I will have to be in charge of the reading. Which I do, on the podcast. I also weave-in the letters with the facts and figures as we know them today. I do that, on Instagram.
Indonesia
The hero of the story
Meet Nederlandsch Indië (modern day Indonesia). This photo was taken by my grandfather in 1947. Indonesia as we know it today is the third largest country in the world. The only country ever that had to declare themselves independent 3 (!) times before the coloniser (very reluctantly) accepted their sovereignty. What happened between the first declaration of independence (17 August 1945) and the third, and last, declaration of independence (27 December 1949) we will discover together. And we might get some real inside information, because rumour has it that my grandfather was present on the 27st of December 1949. I don’t know if it’s true, but if it is, I’m sure he wrote about it.
Proklamasi
Where the story starts
Meet the Proklamasi – the declaration of independence.
“We the people of Indonesia hereby declare the independence of Indonesia. Matters concerning the transfer of power and other matters will be executed in an orderly manner and in the shortest possible time.”
With these words, Sukarno declared Indonesia independent on the morning of 17 August 1945, two days after the Japanese surrendered and world war two in Asia came to an end.
Although the Dutch weren’t aware of the proclamation until several days after, the longing for independence did not come out of nowhere.
Let’s find out why.
For collaboration requests and enquiries
jannekehazelaar@gmail.com