20 July 1947
Police Intervention by the Military
Arrest of political activists in Indonesia
From photocollection Het Vrije Volk,
July 1947.
BG H12/374
On 20 July 1947 in Indonesia political activists are arrested and imprisoned by the Dutch Army. On this day the Dutch government denounced the Lingaddjati treaty (1946) that provided for a gradual detachment of the colony. A military offensive now starts to recover Dutch authority in Indonesia. It is called a "police intervention" to stress that this is only an internal affair. The two successive interventions (1947-1949) result in about 150,000 Indonesian casualties, and about 5000 Dutch casualties. The IISH has many photographs and two archives of Dutch fighters who supported the Indonesians: Poncke Princen and Piet van Staveren.
See also:
• Jan (Poncke) Princen papers
• Kees Princen papers (in Dutch)
• Piet van Staveren papers (in Dutch)
Today in the Biographies Dutch Labour Movement
Died on 20 July |