J. B. van Heutsz

J.B. (Joannes Benedictus) van Heutsz (1851-1924), was appointed governor general of the Dutch East Indies in 1904. In the years before he became famous by making an end to the years long Aceh War. Together with the Islamic scholar Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje he changed the tactics of the Dutch army against the Acehnese, by introducing small mobile forces which were successful against the guerrilla tactics of the Achenese.

Van Heutsz charged Colonel Van Daalen with breaking remaining resistance. Van Daalen destroyed several villages, killing at least 2,900 Acehnese, among which were 1,150 women and children. Dutch losses numbered just 26, and Van Daalen was promoted.

Hendrikus Colijn - future Prime Minister of the Netherlands, at the time Van Heutsz's lieutenant - wrote letters to his wife in which he did not try to hide the atrocities committed:

" I have seen a mother carrying a child of about 6 months old on her left arm, with a long lance in her right hand, who was running in our direction. One of our bullets killed the mother as well as the child. From now on we couldn't give any mercy, it was over. I did give orders to gather a group of 9 women and 3 children who asked for mercy and they were shot all together. It was not a pleasant job, but something else was impossible. Our soldiers tacked them with pleasure with their bayonets. It was horrible. I will stop reporting now." [Aad Engelfriet (Arcengel) "Introduction to the History of the Dutch East Indies" [http://home.iae.nl/users/arcengel/NedIndie/introengels.htm] ]

Colijn's wife wrote in the margin : " How terrible !!"

However, these letters remained private for many years afterwards. In the Netherlands at the time, van Heutsz was considered a hero, named the 'Pacificator of Aceh' and was promoted to become governor-general in 1904.

Van Heutsz returned to the Netherlands in 1909 and died in Switzerland on July 11, 1924.

On June 15, 1935 The Van Heutsz Monument in South Amsterdam (Amsterdam-Zuid) was inaugurated by Queen Wilhelmina. This monument had undergone defacements several times during protests from 1965 to 2004, when the municipality of Amsterdam changed its name and purpose. The monument is now known as the 'Dutch East India - Netherlands Monument' (Monument Indië-Nederland), and all references to van Heutsz have been removed.

After the departure of the Dutch from independent Indonesia in 1949, the Regiment Van Heutsz of the Dutch Army was created with the specific aim of being "the bearer of the traditions of KNIL" (the former Dutch Indies colonial army which had carried out the Aceh War).

References