CIA, The Indonesian Situation, report 61, 14 November 1965
CIA 'Indonesian Situation' report no. 61, 14 November 1965: continuing anti-communist action and mass killings, Aidit's presumed whereabouts, and 1,000 women demonstrating in Jakarta for permanent dissolution of the PKI women's auxiliary. Records an early anti-Gerwani mobilisation.
Kartinah Kurdi, 'Intensifying training of women volunteers' (Harian Rakjat, 27 September 1965; JPRS)
JPRS translation of Kartinah Kurdi's article in Harian Rakjat, 27 Sept 1965 (days before the coup), urging more intensive training of Gerwani 'Sukwati' volunteer women for Dwikora. Describes training centres (Jakarta 'Kartini' and 'Tavip' forces; provincial centres), rallies at Gerwani's 15th anniversary, women marchin
US Embassy Airgram A-300 (Johnson Library copy): The September 30 Affair - background to the coup
Second, noisier OCR copy of the same US Embassy Djakarta airgram A-300 of 22 October 1965 (Masters), from the Johnson Library country file, 46 pages. Covers Sukarno-PKI offensive, the coup, PKI and Sukarno roles, army prospects. Gerwani is mentioned only as PKI women taunting the generals at Lubang Buaya (p.14) and as
FO 371/180317: Attempted Coup against Sukarno [8] (2-9 Oct 1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180317 (2-9 Oct 1965): Jakarta embassy and Foreign Office telegrams on the 30 September coup, Suharto's takeover, Sukarno and Omar Dani, Soviet press silence, and a Singapore proposal for unattributable propaganda to blacken the PKI. Gerwani is named in Suharto's 4 Oct statement and a 6 Oc
FO 371/180318: Attempted Coup against Sukarno [9] (Oct 1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180318 (Oct 1965): Djakarta embassy telegrams, minutes and copied US cables on the 30 September affair. Covers the anti-PKI demonstration and burning of PKI HQ, Sukarno's return, Suharto and Nasution, and Anglo-American debate on backing the generals. Only Gerwani-relevant item: the 10 Oct
FO 371/180320: Gilchrist Despatch of 8 October 1965 on the Coup and Counter-Coup
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180320 (Oct-Nov 1965): Gilchrist's despatch no. 13 of 8 Oct 1965 on the coup and counter-coup, plus telegrams, NATO and Commonwealth reports and Chinese/Soviet/Hanoi reactions. The despatch lists GERWANI among 'chief suspects' (p. 11) and says members of PKI youth and women's groups took p
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;
FO 371/180324: Attempted Coup against Sukarno [15] (Nov 1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180324 (1965), 'Attempted coup against Sukarno [15]': telegrams and letters from Djakarta, Washington and Peking, November 1965, plus appended US and Canadian reports. It records Sukarno's Heroes Day speech, Adam Malik's view of the Sukarno-generals stalemate and accounts of 30 September.
FO 371/180325: Attempted Coup against Sukarno [16] (1965-1966)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180325 (1965), 'Attempted coup against Sukarno [16]': letters and telegrams from Djakarta, NATO Paris, Washington and The Hague, late November 1965 to January 1966. It follows the regional bans of the PKI, Sukarno's Nasakom speeches, Aidit's fate and translated interrogations of Untung and
LBJ National Security File: Indonesia, Communists and Internal Politics (Oct-Nov 1965)
Compilation from the LBJ National Security File (ProQuest), Oct-Nov 1965: State Department memos, CIA intelligence memoranda and Indonesia Working Group situation reports on the 30 September Movement and army counter-moves. Gerwani appears only in passing: arrests of Gerwani and Pemuda Rakyat members (6 Oct), CIA claim
LBJ National Security File: Indonesian Military Coups, Oct-Nov 1965 (Airgram A-300 'The September 30 Affair')
Supplement to the LBJ National Security File (cables, Oct-Nov 1965), centred on the long Djakarta embassy airgram A-300 'The September 30 Affair' plus telegrams. A-300 repeats the Lubang Buaya account that the generals were 'taunted and humiliated' by Gerwani women before being killed, and says Gerwani members were pla
FRUS 1964-68 vol. XXVI, doc. 149: Intelligence memorandum, The Upheaval in Indonesia (6 October 1965)
FRUS 1964-68 vol. XXVI, doc. 149: CIA/OCI Intelligence Memorandum 'The Upheaval in Indonesia' (6 Oct 1965). Describes the 30 September Movement, Suharto's takeover and Sukarno's manoeuvres, and says GERWANI (the 'Communist women's front group') was reportedly involved. Quotes Suharto's 4 Oct statement that an area near
More arrests, slaughter of civilians by Communists in Central Java (Straits Times, 1965)
The Straits Times, 7 October 1965, p. 1: Radio Jakarta says communists slaughtered civilians in Central Java; Yogyakarta retaken and Col. Katamso's family reportedly killed; fierce fighting at Klaten and Cirebon, where rebels included armed People's Youth Front and Gerwani members; 200 armed communists captured. Gerwan
Indonesia: Army nets 1,500 Reds (New York Herald Tribune, European ed., 11 October 1965)
New York Herald Tribune (European ed.), 11 Oct 1965, Reuters report 'Army Nets 1,500 Reds' from Djakarta. Says the army arrested at least 1,500 Communists, including members of 'the Gerwani Communist women's movement, some members of which are alleged to have tortured the six army generals', plus PKI band and choir mem
Country-wide hunt for Reds in Indonesia: weapons seized (The Times of India, 11 October 1965)
The Times of India, 11 Oct 1965, p.11 (Times of India News Service, Reuter, AFP): country-wide hunt for Communists and weapons seized; 1,500 reported detained; mobs raid Njoto's and Aidit's houses; Radio Jakarta urges people to report members of the PKI, its youth and women's wings. A Muslim crowd ransacked a suburban
Evening Post (Wellington), 12 Oct 1965, NZPA-Reuter report: Communists flee into Central Java hills from an Army dragnet; branch officials detained; US embassy dependants withdrawn. Mobs ransacked Communist youth, women's and trade-union offices in Jakarta; per Radio Malaysia quoting Radio Jakarta, a crowd burned the G
Armed Java Reds Flee to Hills to Escape Dragnet (Evening Post, 12 October 1965), headline clipping
Headline-only clipping 'Armed Java Reds Flee to Hills to Escape Dragnet' from the Evening Post of 12 Oct 1965; the Gerwani passage is not in this fragment.
Armed Java Reds Flee to Hills to Escape Dragnet (Evening Post, 12 October 1965), opening clipping
Opening clipping of the Evening Post article of 12 Oct 1965: tension in Central Java, where thousands of Communists, some armed, have fled into the hills from an Army dragnet. Gerwani is not mentioned in this fragment.
Armed Java Reds Flee to Hills to Escape Dragnet (Evening Post, 12 October 1965), clipping on arrests and Aceh office
Clipping from the Evening Post of 12 Oct 1965: US embassy dependants withdrawn; hundreds of Communist branch officials detained, Bandung committee arrested in Yogyakarta; Jakarta curfew eased. Communist youth, women's and trade-union offices ransacked in Jakarta, and a crowd burned the Gerwani office in Aceh, north Sum
US Embassy Djakarta Airgram A-300, 22 October 1965: The September 30 Affair - history and interpretation of the attempte
US Embassy Djakarta airgram A-300 (22 Oct 1965, Edward Masters), a 46-page analysis of the 30 September Movement, the PKI, Sukarno, Air Force and army prospects. Gerwani appears only twice: as members of PKI paramilitary TIK units trained at Halim, and as PKI women said to have taunted and humiliated the generals at Lu
Indonesian Army says wholesale slaughter of civilians in east Java (Straits Budget, 1965)
The Straits Budget (Singapore), 3 November 1965, p. 15, UPI/Antara: the army declares a state of war in Central Java and gives figures for civilians it says communists massacred (e.g. 62 bodies in three mass graves at Banyuwangi, 104 killed), while observers note the incidents all occurred after the coup. Nothing on Ge
CIA, Press information relating to insurgency and counterinsurgency: South and East Asia (Summary 6897), 4 November 1965
CIA Foreign Documents Division weekly digest (Summary No. 6897, 4 Nov 1965) of press on insurgency in South and East Asia. Its Indonesia section reproduces Army-controlled press (Angkatan Bersendjata, Duta Masjarakat) on the 30 September Movement, including claims that Gerwani volunteers trained at Lubang Buaja and moc
The Economist, 6 Nov 1965, p.594, 'Rings on a tree trunk', from a special correspondent in Jakarta: the army-inspired anti-communist campaign has gained its own momentum, with raids on PKI offices, arrests, 26 Antara correspondents detained, Aidit in hiding, Sukarno declaring Central Java in a 'state of war'. Wall graf
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
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.
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
Hamilton Spectator, 19 Nov 1965, p.6: Arthur Dommen (Los Angeles Times) on the 'Indonesian mystery' of the 30 September movement in central Java: Pemuda Rakjat raids on police posts at Boyolali and Klaten (22 Oct), army claims about 1,000 raiders killed, arms from China and guerrilla plans. The wartime-quality OCR name
The masses did not rise (The Hindustan Times, 8 December 1965)
The Hindustan Times, 8 Dec 1965, Dennis Bloodworth (Singapore), 'PKI Debacle I: The Masses Did Not Rise': analysis of why the PKI collapsed after the 1 Oct coup: overrated membership, reliance on Sukarno and on army and air force penetration, no general strike, SOBSI dissolving. It reports Untung's alleged claim that m
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