FO 371/180322: Attempted Coup against Sukarno [13] (28 Oct-5 Nov 1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180322 (28 Oct-5 Nov 1965): Djakarta telegrams quoting Antara on the post-coup purge, Sukarno versus the generals, Medan and Central Java. Gerwani items: tel. 2418 (2 Nov, p. 52) reports a Kowani/women's congress move to expel Gerwani members; tel. 2421 (p. 57) quotes Suharto naming 'Pemud
FO 371/180323: Attempted Coup against Sukarno [14] (Nov 1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180323 (c. 4-16 Nov 1965): Djakarta telegrams, Antara extracts and Foreign Office correspondence on the PKI's destruction, Subandrio, Nasution and Sukarno. Gerwani items: tel. 2480 (p. 39) reports a 8 Nov Jakarta rally of women's organisations demanding dissolution of the PKI and Gerwani;
South China Sunday Post-Herald, 7 Nov 1965, p.30 (Reuter, Djakarta, 6 Nov): the Armed Forces bulletin says nine 'suicide squad' members of Gerwani, the Communist Women's Organisation, were killed by troops after standing in the path of army tanks in Solo, jeering and turning their backs when asked to leave. The item al
Sukarno will act against Reds (The Hindustan Times, 7 November 1965)
The Hindustan Times, 7 Nov 1965 (Reuter, Bogor, 6 Nov): Sukarno promises action against the PKI while the army hunts its members; Subandrio reports Sukarno scolding Njoto for the party's 'childish disease'. The armed forces bulletin says nine Gerwani 'suicide members' were killed by paratroopers when they blocked the r
Straits Times, 7 Nov 1965: suicide squad women crushed by army tanks
Straits Times, 7 Nov 1965 (world round-up, lead only). An army bulletin claimed a 'suicide squad' of Communist women, nine 'suicide members' of Gerwani, were killed trying to block army tanks in a Central Java town. Army-sourced propaganda framing of Gerwani women.
Nógrád, 7 Nov 1965: army kills communist women demonstrators in Solo
Page of Hungarian county daily Nograd, 7 Nov 1965, with an MTI Djakarta dispatch: the army press office says paratroopers 'were forced to take the lives' of Gerwani women who blocked a military column in Solo (Surakarta), Central Java; the communique does not state numbers. Also Pravda's Jakarta report on the banning o
Somogyi Néplap, 7 Nov 1965: Sukarno condemns anti-communism; nine women killed by army in Central Java
Somogyi Neplap (Hungary), 7 Nov 1965, p. 2: MTI/AFP dispatch from Bogor on Sukarno's cabinet meeting, where he condemned anti-communist revenge and upheld NASAKOM. States an army press communiqué that soldiers fired on marching Gerwani women in Solo, Central Java, killing nine. Also notes de facto bans on the PKI and t
Szolnok Megyei Néplap, 7 Nov 1965: Indonesia, Gerwani women killed in Solo
Hungarian provincial daily Szolnok Megyei Néplap, 7 Nov 1965, world-politics page. Its Indonesia item reports an official army communiqué claiming that in Solo (Central Java) paratroopers 'were forced to take the lives' of Gerwani women who blocked the road before an armoured column; it does not say how they were kille
Aidit surrounded by army in Central Java: Gerwani 'suicide squad' in Solo (Berita Harian, 1965)
Berita Harian, 7 November 1965, p. 1: reports Aidit surrounded in Central Java (Col. Jasir) and, from army broadcasts, that nine 'suicide' members of Gerwani blocked tanks in Solo, jeered at paratroopers and were killed when they would not move. The text does not say how; the account is army-sourced and unverified. Als
Suicide squad women crushed by army tanks (Straits Times, 1965)
The Straits Times, 7 November 1965, p. 7, world round-up: an army bulletin says nine 'suicide members' of Gerwani blocked army tanks in Solo, were 'gently asked' to move, jeered at paratroopers, and were killed by the troops when they refused. Same army-sourced story as Berita Harian's 7 November report; unverified. He
Freiburger Nachrichten, 8 November 1965: Indonesia - the hunt for communists continues
Freiburger Nachrichten, 8 Nov 1965, 'Indonesia: hunt for Communists continues' (Reuter/AFP). Citing the Army newspaper, paratroopers killed nine women described as 'suicide fighters of Gerwani' who tried to block army tanks near Solo, shot after warning shots; also arrests in Cilacap, suspensions in Kalimantan, a 'holy
251 dead in Central Java; women demonstrate against the PKI
Leeuwarder Courant, 9 November 1965, p. 5: report that about 10,000 housewives, schoolgirls and actresses marched in Jakarta to the National Front office demanding dissolution of Gerwani and state control of communist-run schools, while over a million demanded the PKI's dissolution. Governor Mokhtar says 251 were kille
Armed Forces Information Centre, Intisari Berita, 27 November 1965: Klaten training claims and 'razored Heroes' allusion
Armed Forces Information Centre bulletin, 27 November 1965. Serial 'Mengikuti Operasi RPKAD' says the PKI in Klaten held training for Gerwani, PR and BTI, and insists its claims are as true as 'the Gerwani who razored our Heroes of the Revolution'.
Army plans to kill P.K.I. for ever (The Scotsman, 8 December 1965)
The Scotsman, 8 Dec 1965, Dennis Bloodworth, 'Army plans to kill PKI for ever': Suharto and Nasution press to destroy the PKI while Sukarno refuses to ban it; the article analyses the PKI's miscalculations. It repeats the slander that six generals were mutilated by 'doe-eyed girls' of the PKI's 'Gerwani' women's moveme
Berita Yudha, 9 December 1965
Berita Yudha, 9 Desember 1965. Page 2 rich in Gerwani items: 'Di Klaten G 30 S sediakan 200 Lobang Buaja' claims 200 pits were prepared and Gerwani and Pemuda Rakyat volunteers were involved.
Evening Post (Wellington), 10 Dec 1965, commentary on the Indonesian Communists after the 30 September coup. It repeats the Lubang Buaya atrocity claim that six generals were 'horribly mutilated by doe-eyed girls' of the PKI's 'Gerwani' women's movement and thrown into a well, with Communist youth dancing at Halim; als
Sukarno the Key to Any Revolution in Indonesia (Evening Post, 10 December 1965), clipping on Gerwani claim
Clipping from the Evening Post of 10 Dec 1965: says Sukarno could not back the coup because of its brutality, and that six generals were 'horribly mutilated by doe-eyed girls' of the PKI's 'Gerwani' women's movement and thrown into a well, while Communist youth danced at Halim. This is the Lubang Buaya sexual-atrocity
Dossier of the Indonesian Drama (Lucien Rey, New Left Review, 1966)
Article by Lucien Rey (New Left Review no. 36, March 1966) reconstructing the 1 October 1965 events as a plot by dissident Central Java officers, plus a translated Asahi Shimbun interview with PKI deputy chair Njoto. Says People's Youth and Gerwani auxiliaries trained at Halim took part in the generals' executions in r
Killing off the communists (South China Morning Post, 17 July 1999)
South China Morning Post, 17 July 1999, p.37, Marian Wilkinson (Sydney Morning Herald), 'Killing off the communists': newly released US embassy and CIA cables show US officials encouraging the army's anti-PKI campaign in Oct-Nov 1965, urging anti-PKI propaganda that links 'diabolical murder and mutilation of the genera
The Cold War in the City of Heroes: US-Indonesian Relations and Anti-Communist Operations in Surabaya (Setiyawan, 2014)
PhD dissertation in History (UCLA, 2014) by Dahlia Gratia Setiyawan on U.S. anti-communist operations and the 1965-66 purge in Surabaya. Gerwani appears in context: as the PKI's women's affiliate (ch. 1), through the Surabaya women's coalition GOWS in the 27 September 1965 Grahadi demonstration (ch. 4), and in the Army