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.
Merdeka, 20 Feb 1951, p. 2: PKI protests France's 24 Jan 1951 expulsion of the WFTU, WFDY and WIDF from Paris; Gerwis and a printers' union send similar protests to the French minister.
Abadi, 16 May 1951, p. 2: Antara report that International Children's Day (1 June), proposed by WIDF, would be celebrated in Indonesia for the first time by a Jakarta committee with Gerwis and SOBSI as secretariat.
Issue 14 of Wanita Sedar, fortnightly organ of Gerwis (25 July 1951). Covers preparation for the first Gerwis congress (57 branches, WIDF links), the Indonesian delegation to the Berlin youth festival including three Gerwis delegates, women in Czechoslovakia, and organisational news.
Front page of Literaturnaia Gazeta, 10 June 1952, carrying a World Peace Council Bureau statement defending the French peace movement. Signatories include 'Mrs. Suwarti (Indonesia), member of parliament' (Gerwis/Gerwani leader Suwarti), alongside Joliot-Curie, Eugenie Cotton (WIDF), Brecht and Neruda. Also notes the Pe
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
Bintang Timur (Jakarta daily), 29 May 1954, p. 2 of a multi-article issue; only one item concerns Gerwani. Its central board (DPP Gerwani), speaking for 80,000 members, protests to the UN against ECOSOC's removal of the WIDF from consultative status, citing a letter from WIDF president Eugenie Cotton, and demands reins
1957 'Letter to an Unknown Friend' by Sudjinah (Gerwani) on Indonesian children's conditions, framed by colonial history, Japanese occupation and the Round Table agreement. Gives statistics (15-20% infant mortality, one doctor per 59,000, illiteracy 65%, 5 of 12 million children in school) and notes Gerwani, with the I
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
Pravda, 16/18 June 1957 (No. 167), only p. 5 supplied (machine-translated): a poem 'Merdeka' on Indonesian independence and a short TASS item on the creation of Indonesia's National Council under Sukarno (Roeslan Abdulgani as deputy chair). The supplied pages do not contain the WIDF or Sardjono speech named in the cata
1958 WIDF note: Indonesian women write that the country faces rebellion backed by SEATO and the US (the PRRI/Permesta crisis), and that women join the struggle shoulder to shoulder with men. Gerwani sets up public kitchens, collects food and magazines for the front, runs first aid; in rebel-held West Sumatra its leader
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 (
Third issue of Api Kartini (Aug 1959), tied to the 17 August anniversary and return to UUD 45. Features women in the 1945–49 revolution, a poem against polygamy and cheap female labour, and international women's solidarity for Indonesian independence and West Irian.
Fifth issue of Api Kartini (1959). Cover profile of WIDF president Eugenie Cotton; Umi Sardjono cited on 235 Gerwani TK Melati kindergartens in Java; also Sumpah Pemuda editorial, ethnography of the Tengger, recipes and child-health advice.
Sixth issue of Api Kartini (Nov 1959), centred on Hari Pahlawan. Includes Sulami's report from the WIDF Bureau and Council in Prague, with Umi Sardjono and Mudigdio attending after visits to India and China, plus news on Albania and Yugoslavia.
First issue of Api Kartini's second year (Jan 1960). Editorial on price rises after the currency sanering and ministers refusing housewives' delegations; a profile of WIDF leaders (Carmen Zanti, Eugenie Cotton) ahead of the WIDF Bureau meeting in Indonesia.
Double issue (Nov–Dec 1960) marking Hari Ibu and the WIDF's 15th anniversary, with Maasje Siwi's first-person report on the WIDF Council session in Warsaw (29 Nov–5 Dec 1960) and coverage of the new MPRS.
February 1960 issue. Editorial on the WIDF Bureau session in Jakarta, the youth congress in Bandung and Khrushchev's visit; kindergarten curriculum, health guidance, Wisma Rini student residence and a satirical column on textile rationing.
March 1960 issue devoted to the 50th anniversary of International Women's Day and the Copenhagen International Women's Congress (21–24 April 1960); interviews with delegation figures Arudji Kartawinata, Ratu Aminah Hidajat and Hurustiati Subandrio.
Short interview note (1960) in WIDF's magazine: Maasje Siwi, director of the new monthly women's magazine Api Kartini, explains its aims. Published under the Jajasan Melati committee, which includes Gerwani members. Magazine launched June 1959; aims to develop women's knowledge, patriotism and international friendship;
January 1961 issue with a report on the First Afro-Asian Women's Conference in Cairo (14–23 Jan 1961) and Iwanah Prijono's speech, plus East German textiles, Cuban women fighters and household columns.
December 1961 issue on West Irian and Gerwani's Fourth Congress (Jakarta, 14–17 Dec 1961): Hari Ibu rally at Istana with Sukarno's Trikora speech and foreign guests Gloria Garton (Australia, WIDF) and Dzhara Ilkhamowa (Uzbekistan).
March 1961 issue for International Women's Day: Sudjinah on the Algerian war and WIDF solidarity, Sugiarti Siswadi's open letter to Pauline Lumumba, and features on revolutionary couples (Lumumbas, Fuciks, Rosenbergs).
June 1961 issue (second anniversary, 5000 copies): Indian women honouring Rameshwari Nehru's Lenin Peace Prize, a profile of WIDF magazine Women of the Whole World and its Afro-Asian congress coverage.
July 1961 issue: interview on National Children's Week and education budget, Central Kalimantan customary law refuting colonial stereotypes, Sukarno's Manifesto against rock and roll, and French WIDF-affiliated women's press.
1961 short story 'The dawn is breaking' by Sulami, 'our Indonesian correspondent', in Women of the Whole World. Peasant woman Sarinah, active in the peasant organisation, explains the new Agrarian Act and land reform to village women, including women's right to own land and head households; landlords pay the government
March 1962 issue on International Women's Day: its history from the socialist women's movement and suffrage victories to the 1962 Jakarta commemoration at UI; cover commemorates Clara Zetkin.
April 1962 issue: Sulami's editorial 'women need revolution, revolution needs women', a Dutch mothers' letter to Queen Juliana against troops to West Irian with Gerwani's reply via WIDF, and Bandung Conference anniversary.
January 1962 issue opening with a report on Gerwani's Fourth Congress (Dec 1961; 400 delegates), where Sukarno urged it to stay a revolutionary mass movement not a 'ladies movement'; WIDF foreign guests, Mudigdio, Sulami and Sudjinah appear.
January 1963 issue opening with a report on the DPP Gerwani plenum (Jakarta, 6–10 Jan 1963) where Umi Sardjono addressed the international situation and the plenum endorsed the coming WIDF World Congress.