History of the 20th century from the perspective of a Dutch middle class family. Father was born in 1899, grew up in a pious small business family. WW1 passed Holland by, more or less.
Father stepped out of the small business world, went to university, theology, married a girl from an educated family. Dutch society neatly segmented in ideological groups, the Catholics, the Calvinists, the reform minded, the Reds. At the same time the rest of the world is in turbulence, especially big neighbor Germany.
Mother is a talented student, studies chemistry... and stops when she gets married. Such were the times. Father takes a pastor position, his family thrives, then he accepts a posting in Medan, Sumatra. At the time, his church was facing a struggle between the orthodox and more open interpretations of the bible. Father shied away from commitment. Sumatra was a kind of escape, but also a promotion.
Dutch East India was at the time an essential part of the Dutch economy, though the possession was a tenuous one. It wouldn't last much longer after the pastor's arrival. Practical conditions in the plantations were at the time quite comparable to slavery in the US. (Which reminds me that I don't understand why the anti-colonial attitude that some are attacking Obama for is a bad thing.)
At home in Europe, depression raged. Holland was ruled by fundamentalist Calvinists, hence austerity was how they met the crisis, which meant that unemployment was higher than elsewhere and lasted longer. Depression also meant collapsing market prices for rubber, sugar, and tobacco. The count- down to the end of colonial splendor had started.
The Netherlands had hoped and half believed that they would stay out of the next war as they had done the last time. It didn't work. Germany occupied Holland. Japan occupied the East Indies, initially welcomed by the local people as liberators. The pastor became a soldier, then a pow, the family had to move into a camp. The two eldest siblings had remained in Holland to attend school . They experienced occupation there, in relative freedom.
Mak laments the efficient cooperation of Dutch bureaucracy in the implementation of the genocide. Death ratio among the Jewish population in Holland was higher than in any other occupied country except Poland.
The author's parents both survive the war and their imprisonment. The author himself is a product of joyful reunification. He was born in 1946.
Less happy was the new attempt of the Netherlands to take back possession of the colony. After atrocities on both sides, independence won. Mak laments that the country never honestly acknowledged it's colonial misdoings. Father needed a long time to see through the falsehoods of the colonialist ideology.
The new world order with its bipolar structure puts the Netherlands firmly in the Western block. The Dutch began looking westward now, away from Germany.
Reintegration in Holland was hard for the family. Father gets a posting in Frisia and struggles with continued dogmatisms in his church. Society continues to be ideologically segmented.
But then the second half of the century brings growth, wealth, modernity, change... And nothing much happens any more. Holland becomes another country. Things happen elsewhere.
I found this an excellent historical excursion, with particular interest in the colonial and war chapters. The final decades of the century take little space and are less interesting to me. I may look at that differently in 50 years. Father, towards his end, regretted that he was so slow in taking positions. I know from myself and from observation that one can also be too fast with taking positions.
I find nothing worth criticizing in the book. Therefore, and because it is not available in English, my review is more a summary than a critique.
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