Germans in Indonesia: Small but significant
Damar Harsanto The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Some people say size doesn't really matter. It seems that applies for German community here, too.
The number of Germans living in the country remain small although their presence here dates back to early in the 16th century along with the massive influx of the first colonizing Europeans, including the Dutch and Portuguese, who landed on the country's shores to exploit the spice market soon after the discovery of sea routes to India.
A former German ambassador to Indonesia, Heinrich Seemann, once wrote that the first German who visited the East Indies was Balthasar Sprenger from the Welser trading company in Ausburg in 1506. When he returned to Germany, he made an report detailing for the first time the Maluku and Banda Islands in German.
"Later, the archipelagic country, which was ruled by the Dutch East Indies administration, became a popular subject of talks among German adventurers, comprising doctors, scientists, agriculture experts, soldiers, artists and traders, who visited the newly discovered islands," Seemann said.
He said those adventurers wrote what they saw and experienced so that by the 17th century, there were at least 36 books in Germany which had been written about Indonesia.
Similarly, noted novelist Pramoedya Ananto Toer once wrote that the bond between the Germans and Indonesians was "far more cultural than colonial."
"Despite the fact that some Germans did work for the Dutch colonial administration, at the elite level or the lower ranks, either as civilians or military officers, there has been an impressive cultural exchange between Germans and Indonesians as seen in the many Indonesian literary works being translated into German and vice versa," Pramoedya said.
Other sources confirmed Pramoedya's statement, pointing to the presence of German communities early in the 20th century sprawled across the country as missionaries, scientists, traders and artists.
One of these was the evangelist Werner August Bode, who started working in Sukabumi, West Java in 1930 along his German friends. They translated some books of the Bible into Malay, and The Lord's Prayer.
Another German was Walter Spies, an artist who could speak Malay and Javanese. His name and works continued to feature prominently in auctions for decades. Spies sailed to Java in 1923, and then stayed in Bandung in West Java and Yogyakarta in Central Java.
Having been touched by the gamelan music and court dances, he was later asked by the sultan of Yogya to lead the court's European orchestra. He was behind the invention of a way to transcribe the gamelan music onto paper.
He visited Bali in 1925 and was immediately attracted to the island and in 1927 he left the sultan's palace and moved to Bali permanently. He had a great influence on local painters like Soberat, Anak Agung Gede Meregeg and many others.
Unfortunately, the fate of most Germans staying in Indonesia ended in tragedy when World War II broke out and Germany invaded the Netherlands, leading to the massive arrests of Germans by the Dutch-Indies administration here.
Amid the Japanese threat here, all German prisoners, including Bode and Spies, were sent to Sri Lanka in 1942, but in the waters near Nias island, the ship was hit by a bomb and started sinking. The Dutch crew abandoned ship; the captain was said to be afraid to set the German prisoners free without orders. Only 70 of German prisoners survived the incident. Bode and Spies were among those who did not make it.
After Indonesia's independence from the Dutch, many young Indonesians studied in universities in Germany, improving bilateral ties. To date, over than 18,000 Indonesians have graduated from German universities, and about 2,500 students enjoy free schooling there each year.
At least 250 Germany-based enterprises have been operating here with over 3,500 German employees. Large companies, such as Bayer, Beiersdorf, DaimlerChrysler, HeidelbergCement, Osram and Fuchs Oil, are among the few foreign firms which did not withdraw from Indonesia despite the 1997 economic crisis.
Did you know?
* A German scientist, Adolf Bastian, introduced the name Indonesia to replace the East Indies, a combination of the word India and the Greek word Nessus meaning islands.
* The oldest enterprise in Germany, Siemens, started its operation here in Surabaya in 1874.
* Many old trains operating during Indonesia's early days were made in Germany. Some locomotives on display at the train museum in Ambarawa, Central Java are German-made.
* The heritage building of Cikini hospital in Central Jakarta was formerly used by the famous painter Raden Saleh (1811-1880) as his residence. The structure was a miniature of Callenberg Palace in Coburg, Germany.
* Governor General Wilhelm Gustav Baron von Imhoff (1705-1750) was of German descent. His residence on Jl. Kali Besar in Kota, West Jakarta, known as Toko Merah has now become a heritage building. Imhoff was the governor who built the city of Buitenzorg, later known as Bogor.