De lange Tweede Wereldoorlog Nederland 1940-1949
When the Dutch speak of the war, they almost invariably refer to the German occupation of the Netherlands. In this new and remarkable retrospective, historian Peter Romijn arrives at a different insight: our 'long Second World War', which began with the German invasion in May 1940, did not end until the final days of 1949, with the transfer of sovereignty to Indonesia.
From the camps to the kampongs, both the Dutch and the population of the Malay Archipelago experienced occupation and repression, genocide and war crimes throughout the 1940s, and their fates were inextricably linked. They were alternately witnesses, perpetrators, and victims of excessive violence. In De lange Tweede Wereldoorlog, Romijn shows compellingly why the war with Germany is inextricably linked to that in the colonies.
This new vision is indispensable for anyone who wants to understand what this extraordinary decade meant - and still means - to the Netherlands.