This weekend it will be 70 years ago that the first large group of Moluccan KNIL soldiers and their families arrived in the port of Rotterdam. Not for a temporary stay, as was assumed at the time, but for good.
A total of 12,500 inhabitants of the Moluccas archipelago came to the Netherlands by ship. After the independence struggle, the Moluccan KNIL soldiers were seen by the Indonesians as traitors because they had fought on the Dutch side.
Among the Moluccans who arrived in the Netherlands in March 1951 were also Nira Kakerissa’s grandparents from Maastricht. She made a documentary about the family history, which will be broadcast from this weekend.
Kampen
After arriving in the harbor, Kakerissa’s grandparents were taken to the former Jewish labor camp Mantinge, near Westerbork. There her father was born. A few years later the family moved to a Moluccan neighborhood in Maastricht.
“After making the series, it became much clearer to me what these people went through,” Kakerissa said. 1Limburg. “They were put in former concentration camps such as Westerbork. That is degrading. That you are put in such a camp after you have served for the Netherlands.”
Nira’s grandfather was a KNIL soldier (Royal Netherlands Indies Army). “For the Indonesians, the Moluccans were traitors because they served under the Dutch flag. They could not stay there. They had no choice and had to leave for the Netherlands. The Netherlands said they could later return to a free Moluccas, but that never happened. “
–
