The capitulation of Japan, today exactly 75 years ago and commemorated today, marked the end of the Second World War, but also the beginning of the mass exodus of people with Dutch citizenship from the Dutch East Indies.
About 100,000 Indo-Dutch (both of European and Eurasian descent) arrived in the Netherlands on ships in the first years after the war. They came to recover from the hardships of the war, the internment camps and the violence during the struggle for independence, which broke out immediately after the Japanese surrender.
Gradually it became clear that returning to Indonesia, which became officially independent in 1949 under pressure from the international community, was no longer possible for most.
First acquaintance
In the years up to 1968, some 230,000 ‘returnees’ followed in various phases for whom there was no longer room in Indonesia. For many, there was no question of returning to their homeland, but it was a first introduction to the Netherlands; the country they knew a lot about, but had never been to.
“We were amazed, but we were grateful to be here,” says Ciska Goud-Samuels, who came to the Netherlands in 1950 as a 12-year-old. “My mother entered the camp with five children, but we all got out alive. That was quite an achievement.”
“We were lucky. We were accommodated in Geerestein, a large country house in Woudenberg, where we stayed for three years. As a family with nine children, we got one room. There was no privacy. The advantage was that there was a lot of space outside. mothers were also allowed to cook for themselves on a regular basis. “
Ciska and her friend Roos van Genugten-Frans tell about their experiences in the Netherlands:
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