‘Not a colonial war’: Dutch film propaganda in the fight against Indonesia, 1945–49

This article is about the films that were made by the Gouvernements Filmbedrijf Multifilm Batavia during the colonial war, and about how these films were re-used in later years, mainly in historical documentaries. Most of these historical documentaries were made for television, reaching a large audience. Thus, these documentaries form part of the national cultural memory, and have had considerable consequences for the way Dutch people remember the war with Indonesia. Accordingly, the proposition of this article is that the films produced by the Dutch East Indies administration during 1945–49 constitute a successful propaganda strategy.