Country of Subjects

Overview

In the Dutch East Indies, things could not have happened in the 1920s. The economy is flourishing, the profits are enormous, especially at the extensive plantations on Sumatra. That's where Hans Goedkoop's grandfather starts his career as a young lieutenant in the colonial army. The KNIL was also deployed during the first major political uprising in the colony. The local population no longer accepts the oppression by the Dutch authorities. Hans learns how Indonesian doctors want to cure their country of the disease called colonialism. He also visits the Ombilin coal mines, where forced labor was common. What did colonialism look like in practice?