Dutch Collector ready to share Collection

Jawa Pos, By: Gunawan Sutanto, September 9, 2016

Surabaya. Good news for ’10 November Museum’ at Tugu Pahlawan. A Dutch museum is offering a collection that is related to the war-history of Surabaya. The collection that they are discussing includes KNIL uniforms. The offer came from Bevrijdings (Liberation) Museum Zeeland.

As the museum founder John (Gert-Jan) de Rooij said that many of his collection is related to the war in Indonesia. “Not whole our collection from Dutch veterans is displayed. We keep many of the items in stock, when Surabaya needs it for the museum to display, we can help ” John says.

Besides accessories from Dutch veterans, they also have Indonesian items such as kris, pins, and insignia. Probably taken from Indonesian freedom fighters who got caught.

Tugu Pahlawan museum says that they need uniforms for display and also documentary photos. John will see what he can do; he will need a formal letter from the museum in which they explain about what kind of items they are interested in, including a motivation.

Neng Resti as the head of the museum says that she will make notes to list what kind of items or collection they need. Many displayed items at the museum are from society. Including Dutch helmets and old rifles that were given by Ady Setyawan, the founder of Roodebrug community.