Raymond Westerling

Raymond Westerling 1948

Raymond Pierre Paul Westerling (born August 31, 1919 in Istanbul , Turkey , † November 26, 1987 in Purmerend , Netherlands ) was a Dutch commander . During the Indonesian War of Independence after World War II, he was responsible for massacres of the people of West Java and Sulawesi .

Istanbul

Westerling was born in Istanbul to the Dutchman Paul Westerling and the Greek Sophia Moutzou. His family belonged to a merchant family with Dutch roots who had established themselves in Istanbul for several generations. The cosmopolitan environment meant that Westerling grew up multilingual. It is unclear whether he ever had Dutch nationality .

Western Europe

During the Second World War , Westerling enlisted in the Dutch Aid Corps in the British Army. The years of his garrison service took him via Egypt and Canada to England and via India back to England before he was finally deployed in the Netherlands. On March 10, 1945 he was wounded in a German attack with V-1 missiles .

Sumatra

After the end of the Second World War in Europe, Westerling joined the Royal Dutch Indian Army (KNIL). After a stopover in Ceylon (today: Sri Lanka ) he was sent to Medan , Sumatra , where he carried out parachute missions against the Japanese occupiers . Formally he was still under British command, but more and more he went his own way, where he stood out for his organizational talent and leadership qualities as well as his uncompromising toughness and ruthless cruelty.

South Sulawesi

In 1946 he was given, first as lieutenant and most recently as captain , the command on the custodian Special Forces (DSF), an elite unit of the KNIL, in South Sulawesi , where nationalists with terrorist actions sought the return of Indonesia to prevent the Dutch government. The DSF was mostly made up of local soldiers and was adamant to the civilian population - thousands of innocent people were executed without trial . Westerling was brought before a court martial for alleged atrocities committed when the unrest was put down. He was acquitted , however , but had to retire from the army in the winter of 1948 .

Bandung

Westerling married a Javanese woman and established a transport company in West Java . During this time he also converted to Islam . After Indonesia's independence in 1949, Westerling commanded the APRA ( Angkatan Perang Ratu Adil "The Just Queen's Army"), a paramilitary unit made up of fanatical Muslims , opponents of an Indonesian republic and Dutch deserters . On January 23, 1950, he occupied the western Javanese city of Bandung with parts of his army . His troops withdrew after negotiations with the Dutch governor . A few days later, Westerling unsuccessfully attacked a police barracks in Jakarta . His projects that government Sukarno overthrow and an independent State to establish Pasundan in western Java was, so finally failed. He left Indonesia for Singapore in 1950 , where he was imprisoned for illegal entry. An extradition request from Indonesia was not granted.

Europe

During his transfer to the Netherlands, Westerling fled and settled from Cairo to Belgium , where he wrote his memoirs in a hotel room . Since scandals about his person also occurred again and again in Europe , he finally had to go to the Netherlands in early 1952. He was arrested but soon released. Another Indonesian extradition request was refused, and a trial that was to be brought against him in the Netherlands did not take place. Westerling died on November 26, 1987 in the Dutch city of Purmerend .

literature

• Westerling, Raymond Paul Pierre (1952). Mes aventures en Indonésie . ISBN 90-5018-425-1 (title of the German edition: Ich war kein Rebell , Ullstein Verlag 1953)
• Ijzereef, Willem (1984). De Zuid-Celebes affaire. Kapitein Westerling en de standrechtelijke executies . ISBN 90-6707-030-0
• Moor, Jaap A. de (1999). Westerling's oorlog: Indonesië 1945-1950. De geschiedenis van de commando's en parachutisten in Nederlands-Indië 1945-1950 . ISBN 90-5018-425-1
• Geersing, Bauke (2019). Captain Raymond Westerling en de Zuid-Celebes-affaire (1946-1947). Myths en werkelijkheid: a distinctive period uit de geschiedenis van Nederlands-Indië . ISBN 978-94-6338-765-1