Colonial Crimes

After the Second World War, the Netherlands tried to reconquer their former colony the Dutch East Indies which they had been forced to abandon to the Japanese in 1942. But Indonesian nationalists fought for and eventually claimed their independence. In the period 1945-1949, Dutch forces committed “structural and excessive violence” against the civilian population of the archipelago engaged in that fight for independence. In December 1949 the Dutch Government finally recognized the independence of the Dutch East Indies, which became the Republic of the United States of Indonesia.