Two photographs showing an execution in Indonesia have been found in a skip in Enschede. Until now, no pictorial evidence of Dutch atrocities committed in the former colony has ever surfaced.

The Dutch military interventions in Indonesia, or Dutch Indies as it was known then, followed the proclamation of the independent Republic of Indonesia in 1945 and lasted until the country formally gained independence in 1949 after a bloody struggle.
Many Indonesian independence fighters were executed by the Dutch. Recently, the relatives of the men killed at Rawagede were awarded compensation after years of legal wrangling. But until now, no photographs of such killings have ever been seen.
Execution
According to the Volkskrant, a sharp eyed staff member of Enschede’s city archives noticed a photo album in a skip and decided to investigate. The album turned out to belong to a soldier who was sent out to Indonesia in 1947 and stayed until 1950.
Among the usual photographs of fellow soldiers, two were found which appear to show an execution. In one photo, three men are standing in a ditch and are shot from behind. In the other photo, a number of men are lying dead in the same ditch with two Dutch soldiers looking on.
‘These are not your everyday photographs and it’s definitely not the kind of thing every soldier who went out to Indonesia brought home with him’, a staff member of the Dutch Institute for Military History is quoted as saying.
It is unclear where and when the photographs were taken. The soldier has died and although it is known he served in the artillery, the official annals of these particular troops have no record of executions. ‘The artillery may have assisted the Special Troops or Infantry which did perform executions’, the paper writes.
Shock

The NRC names the soldier although only his first name, Jacobus, has been released to the press. René Kok, of the Dutch War Institute NIOD, told the paper he was shocked but not surprised at the photographs: ‘We knew such photographs probably existed. A lot of the soldiers had a camera. But most judiciously avoided taking photographs of executions. Apparently no one prevented this man from taking these photographs’.
The paper also interviewed military historian Stef Scagliola, who has done extensive research into the Dutch veterans of the Dutch Indies, and who recognised the field artillery uniforms worn by the two soldiers in one of the photographs.
She thinks the executed men are so-called pemoedas. ‘They were irregular troops made up of very young soldiers with strong local connections who often defied the orders of the TNI, the Republican Army.’
‘We already knew about the massacres in Indonesia’, René Kok is quoted as saying. ‘But these images will remain in our collective memory. Like the running girl in Vietnam, only this time the images are taken from our own history’.
Last month, three renowned academic institutes called for new research into Dutch military involvement in the former colony. In particular, it is vital the researchers use Indonesian as well as Dutch archives, the three organisations say.
Unclear
At the end of last year, the Netherlands finally formally apologised for the massacre of hundreds of men and boys in the Javanese village of Rawagede in 1947. Damages claims have also been submitted in connection with a bloodbath in southern Sulawesi.
‘Although the key facts are clear, I have the impression no one knows how many people we actually shot, which is remarkable in itself,’ lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld, who represents the Rawagede and Sulawesi victims, said at the time.
‘Nor do we know who we executed,’ she said. ‘We were not interested at the time and we are not interested now. Can new research change that? Most of those involved are now dead. Time has closed many doors.’