NIOD Rewind Episode 46 - Who Gets to Be a Victim? Trauma and Memory after the Dutch-Indonesian War

In the first episode of Season 7, Anne van Mourik talks with Susie Protschky (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) to explore the question of perpetrator trauma in the aftermath of the Dutch–Indonesian War. They look at how members of Indies diaspora and former combatants in the Netherlands live with (post-)war trauma, including those implicated in violence and oppressive regimes. 

What does perpetrator trauma mean? How does trauma show up in everyday life and in political discourse? How is it sometimes used to shape narratives of victimhood that aim to mitigate questions of responsibility? 

As the conversation unfolds, Susie and Anne end up circling a familiar knot: why focus on perpetrator trauma at all? Are we in danger of losing sight of historical violence and suffering by shifting attention to memory politics and postwar narratives? Or is this precisely where the political work of history continues to unfold?

Image: Burial at sea of Dutch soldier, 1950 (NIMH)