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• Niet alleen om de rubber: Over Baťa, Tsjechen en Slowaken in Nederlands-Indië en het beeld van Nederlands-Indië in Tsjechoslowakije

  173-206

  Sylva Sklenářová

  Wilken Engelbrecht

  Views:

  42

  Czechoslovakia was a new state that emerged in 1918. It combined the former Kingdom of the Bohemian Crown and former Felvidék – Upper-Hungary. In the period between the two World Wars, and especially after 1930 when the Czechoslovak shoe concern Baťa started its presence in Dutch East-Indies, a couple of novels by Dutch writers has been translated into Czech. Most of them were written by Madelon Székely-Lulofs and Johan Fabricius, the latter even visited Czechoslovakia in 1934. These novels and practical travel stories mainly by Czech entrepreneurs formed the picture of Dutch EastIndies in the mind of Czechoslovak people. Because of a lack of Dutch technic graduates, Dutch authorities recruited engineers from elsewhere, especially from Central Europe. Thus, between the beginning of the 20th century and the end of Dutch East-Indies (1949) some 80 to 100 Czechoslovaks were living in the colony in 1949. Most of them didn’t receive Dutch nationality. In 1939, they were considered to be citizens of the so-called Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia. When the Japanese occupied the colony in 1941, the Protectorate government tried to repatriate its citizens and asked Japanese authorities to spare Czechs. The Japanese treated them then as “non-belligerent enemies”. Most Czechs didn’t accept the offer to stay outside the concentration camps and either entered the camps as did their Dutch colleagues, or even participated in the very little and weak resistance against the Japanese. A very special Czech presence was the factory PT Sepatu Bata built by the Czechoslovak concern Baťa in 1939 that was interested in Indonesian rubber and saw also possibilities to enter the East-Indian market.

• H.C. Zentgraaff contra het echtpaar Székely-Lulofs: Wie was die man?

  133-143

  Gerard Termorshuizen

  Views:

  37

  In 1931 and 1932, Madelon Lulofs published her novels Rubber and Koelie; in 1935 Van oerwoud tot plantage appeared, a translation of the novel Őserdőktől az ültetvényekig by her spouse, László Székely, that came out in the same year. The novels give a realistic and revealing look into the harsh life on the plantations of Deli at the East Coast of Sumatra. Although the books were generally well received in the Netherlands and were considered by progressive critics to be accusations against the colonial administration, the Dutch East Indian press responded with indignation: the colony, as they concluded, was put in a bad light, which created a wrong impression amongst the general public abroad. Besides, equally importantly, these novels served as an evidence of colonial oppression for Indian nationalists, they argued. The Székely-Lulofs couple was heavily rebuked for it. The hate campaign against them was led by journalist H.C. Zentgraaff.

• Een Hongaarse putschist in Suriname

  109-121

  Michiel van Kempen

  Views:

  30

  Frans Pavel Killinger was a Hungarian military and policeman, who tried to set up a coup d’état in 1901 in Suriname, colony of the Netherlands. He strongly criticized the corrupt late-colonial system and poor living conditions in Suriname, and visioned a state without army and with better living conditions for the people, led by himself. The attempt was unveiled and Killinger and his compatriots were sentenced to death. He was pardoned, spent some years in prison, and joined the Turkish army.