CIA study (c. 1964): A world-wide Chinese communist propaganda operation directed against Brazil
Undated CIA study (c. mid-1964) of a worldwide Chinese Communist propaganda campaign protesting Brazil's April 1964 arrest of nine Chinese trade and news officials. Appendices list Chinese organisations and foreign groups that sent messages; Indonesian entries include the Chinese women's federation's message to the Cen
Tossed Down by the Rising Waves (Sudjinah, Prison Memoir)
English typescript prison memoir by Sudjinah, Gerwani translator and journalist (c. 2000): courier in 1945-49, WIDF secretariat in Berlin, Gerwani HQ in 1965, capture in 1967, torture and detention at Bukit Duri and Tangerang. Key Gerwani survivor memoir.
Soviet Woman, 30 Oct 1946, pp. 55-58: Nina Bondareva's article on women and children in colonial countries (India, Egypt, Indonesia, Indo-China), with Olga Khvalebnova on Albania's women. The Indonesia section, pre-Gerwani, praises the republic, notes a woman minister of social welfare, a women's congress at Madiun fed
Femmes du monde entier no. 50, January 1951
Femmes du monde entier no. 50, January 1951, the French-language WIDF bulletin issued from Berlin. Editorial and reports urge women to back the Second World Peace Congress's address to the UN: Korea, Formosa and Vietnam, banning mass-destruction weapons, colonial oppression (Madagascar, Vietnam, South Africa), war prop
Beijing May Festivals Highlight Communist 'Peace' Campaign in Asia (1952)
State Department intelligence report (27 May 1952) on Beijing's May 1952 festivals and the Asia-Pacific peace conference preparations as part of the communist 'peace' campaign. Mentions the WIDF only as a precedent for earlier Beijing meetings (Nov-Dec 1949); no reference to Indonesia, Gerwis or Gerwani found.
US State Dept. report IR-6165, January 1953: Communism in the Free World - Indonesia section on Gerwis
US State Department Office of Intelligence Research report IR-6165, 'Communism in the Free World' (January 1953), a compilation of about 30 country studies of communist capabilities, held in the CIA reading room. The Indonesia study (IR-6165.3) covers PKI aims and tactics, labour, and front organisations. Section VI.A
Communist Meetings 1954 Programme (Southern Cross, 30 April 1954)
Southern Cross (Adelaide), 30 April 1954, p. 16, anti-communist piece listing 'Communist-sponsored' international meetings for the coming year. Only a passing reference touches the field: an International Children's Defence Day under the WIDF, and a World Peasant Youth Congress expected in Jakarta in November. A separa
Advertising (Morning Bulletin, 28 May 1954): Union of Australian Women Tea with Mrs Dickie
Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld), 28 May 1954, p. 10, a full page of classified and general advertisements (jobs, vehicles, property, notices). The only relevant item is a Union of Australian Women invitation to an afternoon tea in Rockhampton's Red Cross Rooms, where Mrs Dickie, wife of Rev. Dickie, 'just returned
Women of the Whole World no. 89, April 1955: cover note on Balinese women
Cover note of Women of the Whole World no. 89 (April 1955, 10th year), stamped by the Amsterdam Institute of Social History. The cover photo shows Balinese women, described as largely bound by feudal tradition yet joining the fight to strengthen the country's independence. No Gerwani mention.
WIDF magazine 'Women Write to Us' (1955), country letters after the World Congress of Mothers (Lausanne): Bulgaria, Argentina, France, India floods, and Indonesia. The Indonesia item reports delegate Mme Suryadarma's warm airport welcome, press and radio coverage of her Congress speech, and the Indonesian Women's Movem
CIA directories, February 1957: International communist-front organizations (WIDF section)
CIA compilation of reference data (February 1957, data to 1 October 1956) on international communist-front organisations and friendship societies, including the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF). The WIDF directory lists headquarters, publications, executive officers and national affiliates. Under Indo
FBIS, 14 May 1958: Intervention rally in Jakarta
FBIS-monitored Xinhua item (14 May 1958): an 'anti-foreign intervention mass movement' of 27 Indonesian organisations planned a 16 May Jakarta rally. WIDF sent a message on behalf of 'hundreds of millions of women' supporting Indonesian women fighting for democracy and independence; Indonesian papers alleged US Ambassa
CIA study, September 1958: The international communist fronts in 1958
CIA/US government study (September 1958) surveying the activities of the international Communist fronts (World Peace Council, Afro-Asian Solidarity Council, WFDY/IUS, WIDF, WFTU and others) in 1958. Chapter IV covers WIDF's Fourth Congress (Vienna, 1-5 June 1958) and secretariat. Gerwani appears only briefly: Suharti (
'From Our Mailbag' (WIDF magazine, 1959): readers' letters from France, Germany, USA, Sudan, Egypt, Colombia and Indonesia. The Jakarta letter, from Mrs Lies Said, editor of the women's magazine Wanita (30,000 readers), says Indonesian women still await the Marriage Law and will keep struggling for equal rights. Gerwan
Communism and the PKI, Despatch of January 1961
US embassy Djakarta despatch compilation (Jan 1961) analysing communism and the PKI, including its front organisations. The overview describes Gerwani as the communist women's organisation used for price and anti-bomb demonstrations, affiliated with the WIDF (which funds trips abroad for prominent members), and contras
Peking Review no. 27, 5 July 1963: World Congress of Women, Moscow; statement of Umi Sardjono
Peking Review no. 27 (5 July 1963), Chinese state weekly, reporting the WIDF World Congress of Women in Moscow (June 1963). It covers the Chinese delegation's votes against the WIDF programme and Appeal, its statements, and the clash with the Indian delegate and chair over the Sino-Indian border. Umi Sardjono, head of
CIA Bi-Weekly Propaganda Guidance, 15 July 1963: WIDF Moscow World Congress of Women
CIA Bi-Weekly Propaganda Guidance, 15 July 1963, on the Sino-Soviet clash at the WIDF Moscow World Congress of Women (June 1963). It quotes the Indonesian press of 9 July, per NCNA, carrying a statement by Maasje Siwi, general secretary of GERWANI, condemning the undemocratic handling of the congress and saying Gerwani
FBIS-monitored VNA text (11 Jan 1965) of a Nhan Dan review of world solidarity with the NFLSV on its fourth anniversary, with messages from Zhou Enlai, Kim Il Sung, Sihanouk and PKI chair Aidit, and events by WIDF, WFTU, WPC and others. Indonesia appears only briefly: many Indonesian mass organisations held meetings an
Soviet Woman, 30 Apr 1965: 'Till We Meet Again', KOWANI delegation in the USSR (Nina Voronina)
Soviet Woman, 30 Apr 1965, p. 18: Nina Voronina's 'Till we meet again', on a three-week USSR tour (Moscow, Riga, Leningrad, Dushanbe) by a five-woman KOWANI delegation: Basariah Simorangkir, Sidi Moehammad (WANI), Ani Boesiri, Ratjih Natawidjaja, Mimi Soeparmi, with Hurustiati Subandrio in Moscow. Left a message in the
CIA Bi-Weekly Propaganda Guidance, 25 October 1965: WIDF 20th anniversary, Gerwani and the 30 September Movement
CIA Bi-Weekly Propaganda Guidance, 25 Oct 1965, calendar and background on the 30 September coup. It notes WIDF's 20th anniversary (26 Nov), lists GERWANI among PKI women's fronts (p.21), and repeats that about 3,000 PKI youth and women's group cadres were trained at Halim air base in September, with Gerwani and Pemuda
CIA Bi-Weekly Propaganda Guidance, 8 November 1965 (WFTU Congress, AAPSO, Setiati Surasto)
CIA Bi-Weekly Propaganda Guidance of 8 Nov 1965 on Communist fronts (commentary 13-26 Oct 1965, WFTU Warsaw Congress, AAPSO Havana conference, Chinese foreign policy). Setiati Surasto appears only in a list of newly elected WFTU officials (Indonesia); the document notes the WIDF 20th anniversary and Indonesian delegate
Issue of New Age, weekly organ of the Communist Party of India, 21 November 1965 (Vol. XIII No. 47; OCR very rough). Mainly Indian politics (Shastri, US food blackmail, Indo-Soviet friendship, Bangalore peace conference). It reports the WIDF Council session in Salzburg (24-27 Oct 1965, 20th anniversary), where a Chines
Appeal for Solidarity with Gerwani and the Women of Indonesia (WIDF Bureau, June 1966)
WIDF Bureau appeal (Berlin, 2-5 June 1966), German original with English translation and notes by Faye Chan (2015). It states that tens of thousands of Indonesian women were murdered or are held and tortured, that Gerwani's leaders and several thousand members were arrested, and that Gerwani and other women's organisat
Letter from Betka Papanek to Nani Suwondo, 15 March 1967
Letter dated 15 March 1967 from Betka Papanek to Mrs Nani Suwondo, Djalan Pasar Minggu 39, Jakarta, apparently about a conference. OCR is almost entirely unreadable, so content beyond the address, date and a mention of a conference cannot be confirmed; summary rests on title and legible fragments. Nani Suwondo was a wo
Cecile Hugel, Report of Activities of the WIDF to the 6th Congress, Helsinki, 1969
Activity report by WIDF General Secretary Cecile Hugel to the Sixth WIDF Congress, Helsinki, 17 June 1969. Covers Viet Nam and Middle East solidarity, Latin American seminars, UN consultative status regained, and future plans. Page 8 notes WIDF's concern for 'democratic men and women in Indonesia', a telegram to Genera
WIDF Report on Activities, Sixth Congress, Helsinki 1969
WIDF 1969 Sixth Congress documents (Helsinki): auditing committee financial report and General Secretary Cécile Hugel's report on activities since 1963. Mostly Vietnam, Middle East and Latin America; Hugel notes WIDF's concern for 'democratic men and women in Indonesia', its telegram to Suharto, and that nothing had be
Daily World, 17 June 1969: Women's congress cheers plea for a free Vietnam (WIDF Helsinki congress)
Page 10 of the Daily World (New York, 17 Jun 1969) with a Beatrice Johnson report on the WIDF World Congress of Women in Helsinki. Vietnamese NLF delegate Nguyen Thi Binh appeals for US withdrawal, and the congress hears that hundreds of women are being tortured in camps and prisons in Greece, Indonesia, Spain and else
TAPOL Bulletin No. 3, Jan 1974: case notes on Mrs Siti Mudigdio, Member of Parliament
TAPOL Bulletin No. 3 (January 1974) of the British Campaign for the Release of Indonesian Political Prisoners, with campaign news, prison conditions and torture reports. Its 'Case Notes' profile Mrs Siti Mudigdio, a Communist MP and vice-chair of Gerwani, once also a WIDF vice-chair, whose husband was killed in 1948. O
The Women's Role in Development in Indonesia (National Committee for International Women's Year, 1975)
Indonesia's official country report for the 1975 International Women's Year World Conference in Mexico City, prepared by the Indonesian National Committee under the Suharto government (Jakarta, June 1975). It gives speeches by Suharto, Tien Suharto and ministers, then chapters on women's legal status, the 1974 Marriage
Daily World, 16 May 1975: Connecticut towns hear peace delegates (WILPF-WIDF seminar)
Page 9 of the Daily World (New York, 16 May 1975) with a Connecticut report on delegates to a WILPF-WIDF disarmament seminar. They included British woman Carmel Budiardjo, who was in Djakarta in 1965 and imprisoned for three years while her husband remained jailed after ten years; she says over a million were killed an