Violence is inextricably linked with war but the way that violence is recorded differs between conflicts. In the case of the Indonesian war of independence, various parties were fighting one another. That made talking about and depicting the violence a sensitive issue: which group was the victim and which group the perpetrator? In this theme, this question is considered from various points of view.

However, it should be noted that the material in this selection comes overwhelmingly from white Dutch soldiers. Their perspective is therefore inevitably overrepresented and that affects the choice of subjects. There

are consequently only a few items about incidents of Dutch violence in this collection, while war crimes committed by the Indonesians — especially during the Bersiap — receive much more attention.

Even so, our aim in this theme is to show the violence of the Indonesian war of independence without letting one particular perspective dominate. In this context, it is important to query why some forms of violence were documented and others not. How do these sources colour our perception of the violence in this war?