The moving indictment of Mohammad Munir
De Waarheid (30 Sep 1985, p.5) excerpts the 1973 defence plea of PKI/union leader Mohammad Munir, executed in May 1985, before a military tribunal. He describes the post-October 1965 hate campaign aimed at PKI, Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani, the mass killings and camps; an editorial note says the generals' deaths were used
Not guilty (close of Mohammad Munir's plea)
Continuation of De Waarheid's excerpt of Mohammad Munir's 1973 defence plea (30 Sep 1985, p.5). He denies the PKI attempted a coup, criticises Suharto's economic policy, and demands release of all 30 September prisoners including those in Buru, Nusakambangan and the women's camp Plantungan. A footnote glosses Gerwani a
TAPOL Bulletin no. 80 (London, April 1987) on East Timor, the 1987 elections, the Societies Law and ex-tapol rights. A short 'Gerwani members arrested' item reports a woman called 'Mrs Har', said to be a former Gerwani member, arrested with her three daughters in Tanjung Priok (14 Feb 1987), and another alleged Gerwani
Losing a Revolution: The PKI versus the Army in Indonesia, 1949-1965 (Sutley, 1988)
Stewart K. Sutley's MA thesis (Political Science, McGill, 1988) applies Tilly and Aya's 'political conflict' model to the PKI-Army struggle of 1949-65, arguing the PKI's state-within-a-state depended on Sukarno and was destroyed after the army struck at the president. Gerwani is treated only as the PKI's 'women's front
Harian Neraca serial 'Siapa menabur angin akan menuai badai' (54): AURI training of PKI organisations
Harian Neraca, 4 Mar 1989, p. 10: instalment 54 on April–August 1965, claiming AURI personnel helped train Pemuda Rakyat, Gerwani and other PKI organisations under the Dwikora volunteer programme.
Harian Neraca serial 'Siapa menabur angin akan menuai badai' (63): the 4 October exhumation and Nasution's funeral sp...
Harian Neraca, 16 Mar 1989, p. 10: instalment 63 on the 4 Oct 1965 exhumation, quoting Nasution's funeral speech naming Lubang Buaya as the training centre for 'Pemuda Rakyat, Gerwani and others'.
Harian Neraca serial 'Siapa menabur angin akan menuai badai' (67): Aidit's capture and alleged confession
Harian Neraca, 21 Maret 1989, p. 10: instalment 67 of Soegiarso Soerojo's serial. Aidit's capture in Solo on 22 Nov 1965 and extracts of his alleged confession (Asahi Evening News) that Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani units were assembled from July 1965.
Harian Neraca serial 'Siapa menabur angin akan menuai badai' (69): Lekra 'setan kota' campaign and 29 September 1965...
Harian Neraca, 23 Maret 1989, p. 10: instalment 69 of Soegiarso Soerojo's serial. Presents Lekra's 'setan kota' campaign and the 29 Sept 1965 Front Pemuda demonstration (Gerwani listed) as incitement; claims Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani military training.
Harian Neraca serial 'Siapa menabur angin akan menuai badai' (103): Marsudi's testimony on volunteer training at Luba...
Harian Neraca, 2 Mei 1989, p. 10: instalment 103 of Soegiarso Soerojo's serial. Mahmilub testimony incl. Serma Marsudi (1976) on training 3,000 volunteers from Lekra, PR, Gerwani, CGMI, BTI and others at Lubang Buaya.
Murders (Suharto and the mass killings of 1965-66)
De Waarheid piece (2 Sep 1989, p.16) criticising Suharto's silence on the 1965-66 massacres, quoting Stanley Karnow and C.L. Sulzberger on the killings and estimates of 300,000 to one million dead. It notes mass arrests without trial of hundreds of thousands, including members of SOBSI, Gerwani and Pemuda Rakjat, and t
Pravda, 30 Oct 1990: 'Indonesia: strokes to a tragedy of 35 years ago' (V. Shurygin)
Pravda, 30 October 1990 (No. 303), p. 5: V. Shurygin's retrospective 'Indonesia: strokes to a tragedy of 35 years ago' on the 1965 coup, Suharto's rise and the destruction of the PKI by a Pravda correspondent who was in Indonesia. Gerwani appears once, listed as the PKI's women's organisation alongside SOBSI, BTI, Pemu
Pravda, 1990: Shurygin, 'Indonesia: strokes to a tragedy of 35 years ago' (excerpt)
Pravda (Nov/Dec 1990, No. 303) archive.org OCR excerpt of V. Shurygin's retrospective 'Indonesia: strokes to a tragedy of 35 years ago'. Lists Gerwani among PKI-affiliated mass organisations, cites up to 500,000 killed, notes slander turned opinion against communists, and says ~50,000 of 1.4 million ex-prisoners may vo
Documentary Photographs of Dioramas, Museum of PKI Treachery / Pancasila Sakti Monument, c. 1990-92
Fourteen prints from Edhi Sunarso's archive of Lubang Buaya dioramas, including 'Latihan sukarelawan P.K.I. di Lubang Buaya' and 'Penganiayaan dan pembunuhan di Lubang Buaya'. Titles match the Paseban dioramas opened in 1981. Visual material on the official narrative.
The Guardian (Weekend Guardian), 8 Sept 1990, p.A4, John Gittings, 'The black hole of Bali': long feature on the 1965 massacre (250,000 or more killed), how the killings were organised by the army under Suharto, the Aidit/PKI role, the US list of communists (Martens/Kadane) and US encouragement, survivors ('Tapols') an
Banyuwangi, the first spark that burned out G30S/PKI
Bali Post, 30 Sept 1992, p. 6: G30S-anniversary opinion page; a feature lists Gerwani among communist masses backing Madiun 1948 and retells the Cemetuk clash of 18 Oct 1965 as PKI poisoning.
Berita Yudha, 1 October 1993: 'Facts' (Suharto's speech of 15 October 1965)
Berita Yudha, 1 Oct 1993, p. 2: reprints Maj. Gen. Soeharto's 15 Oct 1965 speech to the Front Nasional from Alex Dinuth's document selection, narrating 1–4 October 1965; Gerwani mentioned.
Berita Yudha, 24 October 1994: White Book on G30S (part 12)
Berita Yudha, 24 Oct 1994, p. 4: White Book instalment on PKI infiltration of IPPI and PGRI and the 'Angkatan V', with volunteers from Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani.
Berita Yudha, 9 November 1994: White Book on G30S (part 26)
Berita Yudha, 9 Nov 1994, p. 4: White Book instalment on Central Java and Yogyakarta, naming Gerwani among PKI mass organisations issuing a support resolution in Wonogiri on 1 Oct 1965; editorial honours Fatmawati.
The Forgotten Years: Mass Slaughter in Jombang-Kediri 1965-1966 (Sulistyo, 1997)
Hermawan Sulistyo's 1997 Arizona State history PhD, 'The Forgotten Years', studies the 1965-66 killings in Jombang-Kediri, East Java, from interviews and documents, finding no single national pattern and stressing local conflict and military-backed operations. Gerwani appears in passing: its claimed 1.75 million member
Hari Kesaktian Pancasila is not only remembering a bloody event
Analisa (Medan), 4 Oct 1997, p. 7: commentary for Hari Kesaktian Pancasila repeating the official G30S account and invoking 'the barbarity of the PKI with its Gerwani and Pemuda Rakyat'.
Berita Yudha, 8 January 1998: 'PKI abducted, killed and dumped the bodies in Lubang Buaya' (M.T. Harjono)
Berita Yudha, 8 Jan 1998, p. 4: final instalment of a hero biography of M.T. Harjono stating PKI antecedents like Pemuda Rakyat, CGMI and Gerwani used volunteer training as a mask, as at Lubang Buaya.
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
Confronting the Past: the anticommunist killings of 1965-66 and the role of Nahdlatul Ulama (McGregor, 2009)
Katharine McGregor's 2009 article on NU's support for the 1965-66 killings (e.g. its 5 Oct 1965 call to ban the PKI, Gerwani and others), their celebration under the New Order and Syarikat's post-1998 reconciliation work. Context on religious-organisation role.
State actions regarding G30S: Gadamerian study of survivors (Atmaja, 2012)
2012 article by Hamdan Tri Atmaja using Gadamerian hermeneutics and interviews with seven survivors (two women held at Plantungan) on how they interpret state actions after G30S: readings of the coup, groundless arrests and interrogation.
Heirs to World Culture: Being Indonesian 1950-1965 (KITLV Press, 2012)
Edited volume (KITLV Press, Leiden, 2012) by Jennifer Lindsay and Maya H.T. Liem on Indonesian culture and its international links, 1950-65. Gerwani appears only in passing: Michael Bodden's chapter on Lekra theatre says Gerwani, like Lekra and CGMI, was pressed by the PKI in 1964 to declare itself communist (p. 470, c
Heirs to World Culture: Being Indonesian 1950-1965 (KITLV Press, 2012)
Edited volume (KITLV Press, Leiden, 2012) by Jennifer Lindsay and Maya H.T. Liem on Indonesian culture and its international links, 1950-65. Gerwani appears only in passing: Michael Bodden's chapter on Lekra theatre says Gerwani, like Lekra and CGMI, was pressed by the PKI in 1964 to declare itself communist (p. 470, c
Tempo, 1 October 2012: Anwar Congo's confession
Tempo piece (1 Oct 2012) on how Joshua Oppenheimer met perpetrators, from Matapao plantation workers to Anwar Congo and the Pasukan Kodok / Pemuda Pancasila in Medan. It cites Amir Hasan's pamphlet 'Embun Berdarah' on Teluk Mengkudu, which lists 702 PKI-linked villagers by affiliation, including Gerwani, and records an
Tempo, 3 October 2020: Cinema of friendship between women ex-prisoners ('You and I')
Tempo feature (3 Oct 2020) on Fanny Chotimah's documentary 'You and I' (DMZ festival award) about Solo ex-political prisoners Kaminah and Kusdalini, Pemuda Rakyat/Gita Patria choir members detained in 1965 and later rejected by family; contrasts it with the Pengkhianatan film's razor-blade scene and the Plantungan docu
A bitter portrait of 1965 survivors in You and I (Historia, 2021)
Historia review (5 May 2021) of Fanny Chotimah's documentary You and I, following two elderly Solo survivors, Kaminah and Sri Kusdalini, former choir members under Pemuda Rakyat held as political prisoners; Kaminah's bond began in Gerwis/Gerwani's women's field. Film review.
Pohlman's chapter on the interrogation and torture centres ('devil's houses') in the army's 1965-70 detention system, opening with Sudjinah's account of capture with Sulami in Feb 1967 and torture at Gunung Sahari. Evidence from a handful of survivor testimonies.