Sutarso Nasrudin

Sutarso Nasrudin enlisted in Indonesia’s national army, the Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI). He served as part of the Siliwangi Division, an elite regiment that fought for Indonesian independence.

During the struggle for freedom, he carried a book of friendship with him, containing photos of his family and his comrades in arms. ‘United in our fight for the fatherland,’ one caption reads.

On one of the first pages of his pocket-sized book, Nasrudin pasted a photo of himself. He drew a frame around the picture and signed it as if it were a portrait.

Nasrudin also wrote poems in his book, with references to ancient Javanese legends, romantic poetry and soldiers’ songs. Those songs exalt the glory of the fatherland.

It appears that Nasrudin feared one thing most of all: that his book would fall into the hands of the enemy. One of the last pages contains the inscription ‘Pembakaran’ (burning). This was probably an instruction to his family and friends to destroy the book if there was a chance it might fall into enemy hands.

In 1948, Nasrudin was arrested by Dutch soldiers and his book of friendship was taken from him. Like many of the objects and documents in this exhibition, it ended up in the Netherlands because it was seized by Dutch soldiers during the War of Independence.

Shortly after he was stripped of his book, Nasrudin was executed by Dutch soldiers.