Descriptions of extreme violence can occasionally be found among the many letters sent by Dutch troops. An example is this letter that was handed over to H.W. Felderhof, the procurator general of the Dutch East Indies, by R.A.H. Bergmann, an inspector in Parepare. The letter from an anonymous author describes what were termed ‘purges’ (zuiveringen) by KNIL soldiers in Suppa, South Sulawesi (the island formerly known as Celebes). In this operation, Dutch troops murdered around 200 Indonesians on 28 January 1947.
“Burnt a few kampongs to the ground, rounded up the population and, based on tips from some spies, shot over two hundred people down [...] like dogs with our revolvers. [...] Forgot to mention one interesting detail about this mass murder: lots of the soldiers were keen to get the rings off the fingers of the corpses. [...] That’s not for me, it goes against everything I feel and think, and everything I value. I find it impossible to see our idealistic, educative task anymore with this thick veil of murders and daily shambles.”
Letter from an unknown author to Paul [...] about the mass execution in Suppa by Dutch soldiers, 28 January 1947. Parepare, South Sulawesi, 29 January 1947. One item. D H 1284, number 149.