Dutch Veteran Oral History Interview on Military Service in the Dutch East Indies

One oral history interview from the Veteranen Instituut, conducted with a Dutch veteran who served in the Dutch East Indies from 1948. The interview details his conscription in 1946, training as an infantry reserve officer in Breda, and his experiences as a platoon commander and military auditor in Batavia. The dataset is hosted by DANS Data Station Social Sciences and Humanities and was last updated on October 24, 2025.

Use Cases

• Analyzing personal narratives of military conscription and training based on the veteran's account of being called up in 1946 and attending the reserve officers' school in Breda.
• Studying colonial military justice systems based on the veteran's role as a military auditor for the Special Court Martial (Bijzonder Krijgsgerecht).
• Researching veteran perspectives on the decolonization of the Dutch East Indies based on the subject's expressed disappointment with the outcome.
• Examining cultural encounters and personal adaptation based on the veteran's description of finding the experience fantastic for learning about the land and culture.

Strengths

• Provides a first-person, detailed narrative of a specific historical period (post-WWII Dutch military service).
• Includes specific dates and locations, such as conscription in 1946, training in Breda in 1947, and arrival in Batavia in May 1948.
• Managed by a dedicated historical institute (Veteranen Instituut) and a trusted data archive (DANS).

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality and full interview content require manual inspection after download.
• Row count and file format are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Veteranen Instituut

Collection Method

Likely contains a recorded and transcribed oral history interview.

Time Range

Interview subject's service period from 1946 to after 1948.

Freshness

Last updated 2025-10-24 04:14:38; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Netherlands (Breda) and Indonesia (Batavia, now Jakarta), specifically the Dutch East Indies.