On December 27th 1949, the Netherlands transferred most of the sovereignty to Indonesia after a decolonization-conflict that lasted for more than four years. This meant the end of the Dutch East...Show moreOn December 27th 1949, the Netherlands transferred most of the sovereignty to Indonesia after a decolonization-conflict that lasted for more than four years. This meant the end of the Dutch East Indies. The soldiers of the Royal Dutch Army returned home after having lived under extreme conditions in a country that was completely unlike anything they were used to. Over the decades that followed a large number of publications appeared, many of them informal. In these publications the former Dutch soldiers told stories about their migration to the Dutch East Indies as soldiers, and their return to the Netherlands after their stay of three to four years. For my internship at the KITLV I took stock of some of the published stories as well as of the interviews with former soldiers collected by the KITLV. What struck me was that these stories formed a more or less coherent collective narrative. This narrative shows primarily similarities in descriptions of preparations and expectations of the Dutch East Indies, their experiences in the Dutch East Indies, and returning home after the war. In this thesis I researched several possible explanations why the content of these stories that recall these individual expectations, perceptions and experiences is of such a collective nature.Show less
