They were treated like criminals: young men from Drenthe who did not want to fight in Indonesia. From now on, the court reports can be viewed by everyone in the Drenthe Archives.
The start of the new year is always a special moment in the Drenthe Archives in Assen. New documents will be released on Public Access Day, the restrictions on which will no longer be public. This year too, there are special pieces. For example, the archives of the court martial in the North.
This was a military court that ruled from the Asser Park Hotel on soldiers stationed in the Northern Netherlands. The War Council had a head office in Arnhem and several outposts, hence the name ‘in the field’. On March 12, 1947, the judges in Assen considered 19 cases of young men who never showed up for their embarkation to the Indies.
Files on the boat
Their division, the 7 December Division, had left on September 1, 1946. The conscripts had to help restore Dutch authority in the colony. It soon became apparent that many young men did not want to fight the Indonesians.
A problem that had not been taken into account. “The personnel files were neatly packed and taken on the boat,” says archivist Jos Arends. It therefore took months before the conscientious objectors were traced at home by the Royal Military Police.
Morale deteriorated
Desertion was considered a major problem. “It had a great influence on the morale of the boys who did fight in the Indies,” Arends explains. “And so tough action had to be taken against it.” The young men were transported to an encampment after the visit of the Royal Military Police.
“They mainly did fun things there. Moreover, the boys were talked into quite a bit. Most of them then went to the Indies.”
Against oppression
Not so Albert Bruins from Mantinge, Marinus Schultink from Hoogeveen, Albertus Bokhorst from Gasselte and Jacob van Zanten from Roden. They continued to refuse. The conscripted soldiers, all born in 1925, had various reasons for not wanting to fight in the Indies. For example, Bruins and Bokhorst stated that their mother ‘is a nervous sufferer’ or ‘suffers from nervous fits’.
But Bruins, then 22, also stated before the military judge that ‘he does not want to fight against the Indonesians who are fighting for their freedom’. Bokhorst (21) also could not bring himself to ‘oppress Indonesians’.
Objections never read
In addition to these moral objections, the young conscript soldiers gave all kinds of reasons why they did not board the ship to Indonesia, Arends sees in the reports. “There are guys who are worried about their business, who want to get married next week or who are sick, weak and nauseous.”
While looking through the archives, he noticed something else. The personal motivations that the men express in court for refusing service have been crossed out again and again.
“Apparently the authorities did not think it was a good idea if those reasons were read out loud in court or ended up in a newspaper article,” he explains the remarkable discovery. “But I can’t prove that. That is for historians to investigate.”
Criminals
Bruins, Schultink, Bokhorst and Van Zanten were all convicted of desertion by the military court on March 12, 1947. The representative of the Public Prosecution Service, with a nice word military prosecutor, had nothing good to say about it:
‘Those who have refused to embark are, in the opinion of the military hearing officer, useless as soldiers. The Dutch army is not shy about them. However, they must realize that if they refuse to leave, there will be consequences that they must also accept. The military prosecutor put the refusers on a par with criminals,” a newspaper report said.
Family also punished
The men had to go to prison for as long as their peers served in the Indies. The standard was three years. In its verdict, the Court Martial once again emphasized the unacceptability of desertion. ‘It has been clearly explained from many sides what the purpose of the deployment of Dutch troops to the Indies is, and in particular that its purpose is certainly not: oppression of Indonesians.’
Not only the conscientious objectors themselves had to go to prison. Their relatives also sometimes got into trouble because they helped refuse service in the Indies. The newspaper also wrote in 1947 about months in prison for relatives of deserters.
Assistance from archive staff
Archivist Arends does not expect massive interest in the four thick folders full of documents. Yet, according to him, it is very important that the Court Martial documents are now available to everyone. “From a social point of view, desertion is not easy,” he outlines. “And the war is also fraught for people from the East Indies. Many felt betrayed.”
The interest and recognition take time, Arends knows from experience. Many emotionally charged Second World War archives have been opened in recent years. More and more children of parents who were members of the NSB are trying to find out what happened. They can receive help from archive staff who are trained in guiding visitors who come across difficult documents.
The archivist thinks this will also be the case with the stories about the war in the East Indies. “It’s good that we’re going to talk about it.”