There are unfortunately a few people in Indonesia who have a distorted view of history and actually admire the genocidal Nazi party. But there were also many Indonesians who fought against the Axis power in World War II. One Dutch-Indonesian student, Irawan Soejono, was recently honored as a war hero for the part he played, and the sacrifice he made, battling the Nazis in the Netherlands.
At an event in the Dutch city of Leiden, Irawan was officially recognized as a hero of the city at a ceremony attended by Leiden’s mayor Henri Lenferink and Indonesian Ambassador to the Netherlands I Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja.
“The Government of Leiden, the Netherlands, confers the title “Hero of Freedom” to Irawan Soejono (1920-1945). The title was awarded by the mayor of Leiden Pieterskerk on Wednesday, May 4, the 71st anniversary of his death,” read a press statement released by the Indonesian Student Association of Leiden.
Irawan was an Indonesian student studying at the University of Leiden during World War II as well as a member of Perhimpunan Indonesia (PI), the main Indonesian student association in the Netherlands at the time. Many members of PI were instrumental in Indonesia’s independence movement, such as the country’s first vice president, Mohammad Hatta.
Irawan was a member of PI’s armed unit, which was a part of the Dutch resistance that fought the Nazi occupiers during the 1940s. He took on the dangerous task of printing the resistance movement’s newsletter, “De Bevrijding,” three times a week. He often had to dodge police raids to fulfill his duty but was finally shot by Nazi officers while carrying a printing machine in Leiden on January 13, 1945.
He might not be well known in Indonesia, but Irawan’s bravery has often been recognized in the Netherlands. There is a street named after him in Amsterdam, Irawan Soejonostraat,as well as a memorial to him in Groene Steen Park in Leiden.
