Commemoration of the end of the Second World War in South-East Asia on 15 August

The De Zeven Kruizen memorial commemorates the 25,000 victims of the Second World War and the subsequent War of Independence in the former Dutch East Indies and Indonesia.

This monument symbolises the seven cemeteries of honour in Indonesia where these victims are buried. At the Loenen National Cemetery of Honour, there are also vases symbolising the cemeteries of honour in Thailand and Myanmar. During the wreath-laying ceremony, the Melati wreath is laid. The melati, or Indian jasmine flower, symbolises the end of the Second World War.

Background

During the Second World War, Japan was an ally of Germany. The then Dutch East Indies were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. On 15 August 1945, shortly after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered. This officially brought an end to the Second World War in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Millions of people in South-East Asia have suffered greatly as a result of hunger, forced labour, violence, humiliation and terror.

Although the war did come to an end on 15 August, it did not bring peace. On 17 August, two days after Japan’s surrender, the leaders of the Indonesian nationalist movement – Sukarno, Sjahrir and Hatta – proclaimed Indonesian independence. They are recognised in Indonesia as the founders of the independent Republic of Indonesia. In the power vacuum immediately following the war, there was widespread violence against both Dutch and Indonesians. The subsequent large-scale violence of the war and, later, the frosty reception given to Dutch and Indo-Dutch people in the Netherlands continue to have an impact for generations, right up to the present day.