Hans van Santen

Van Santen was born in The Hague, into a family with roots in Indonesia. He volunteered for military service, signing up in May 1945 at the age of 17. This made him too young to serve, but he lied about his age on his registration card.

In January 1946, he boarded a ship bound for Indonesia. With his battalion, Van Santen took part in several ‘mopping-up operations’, to use the military jargon of the time. These were directed against the Indonesian army and local militias.

A number of Van Santen’s fellow soldiers were killed in these operations. On 2 December 1946, for example, the battalion buried Private Reint Wolf in Medan, on the island of Sumatra. Wolf was just 20 years old.

In the early stages of Operation Product, Van Santen and his battalion headed into the hinterland of Medan, on Sumatra. It was an area rich in oil and rubber plantations. During the operation he wrote his parents this letter. The typewriter and stationery he used were probably captured from a local rubber company.

In his letter, Van Santen expressed outrage at the enemy’s scorched earth tactics and their violence against Chinese civilians. Van Santen was surprised to hear the population go back to shouting ‘Long live the Dutch!’’ He ends his letter on an exasperated note: ‘I have no idea what’s going on anymore.’

The Dutch military campaign brought the parties back to the negotiating table, where the Netherlands met with harsh criticism from the United Nations. The colonial war the Dutch were waging was condemned by the rest of the world in no uncertain terms.