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
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.
Suara Merdeka (Semarang), 6 Oktober 1965, hlm. 1. Front page after discovery of the officers' bodies: Suharto's RRI announcement of the Lubang Buaya well and Kalibata burial; his reply mentions an AURI-run training centre for 'sukarelawan/sukarelawati'. No Gerwani or mutilation mentioned.
Leeuwarder Courant, 7 October 1965, p. 1: report on the exhumation of the seven murdered army officers from the Lubang Buaya well and the generals' funeral, with Nasution's escape and Lt Tendean's death. It relays Suharto's televised claim that the bodies lay next to a base where the air force trained Pemuda Rakjat and
FBIS-monitored Jakarta radio item (7 Oct 1965): Gertasi, a Gasbiindo transport union and the Progressive Pioneer Youth called for dissolving PKI and its mass organisations. The transport union salutes ABRI for arresting 'members of the people's youth (Pemuda Rakjat) and the Indonesian Women's Movement (Gerwani), both s
FBIS item (7 Oct 1965, Jakarta radio): the Perti party's executive board denounces the 'gestapo-style' terror, backs NU and PSII demands that Sukarno dissolve the PKI and its affiliates, listing Pemuda Rakjat, Gerwani, SOBSI, CGMI, Lekra, and suspends three members, placing the party under Rusli Abdul Wahid. Another ea
Suara Merdeka (Semarang), 9 Oktober 1965, hlm. 2. Includes a boxed paid notice in which the DPD Gerwani Central Java congratulates ABRI on its 20th anniversary and hopes for closer ABRI–people cooperation, a rare formulaic trace of Gerwani's own voice just before its destruction.
De Nieuwe Limburger, 11 Oct 1965 (ANP/UPI/AFP): despite Sukarno's call for moderation, the army starts a nationwide drive against the PKI. On Saturday a Muslim crowd plundered the houses of Aidit and Njoto and the Gerwani building; about 2,000 arrests near Jakarta; 44 parties demand a PKI ban. Early report of attacks o
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
Globe and Mail, 12 Oct 1965, p.8 (NYT/AP/Reuters wire): Sukarno returns to Jakarta and urges normal conditions two weeks after the 30 September coup; the army is cracking down on the PKI, with about 1,000 arrests. Malaysian radio reports a Muslim crowd sacked the Medan branch office of Gerwani, 'the Communist women's o
The Daily Telegraph (London), 12 Oct 1965, p.24, Ian Ward from Singapore: Indonesian radio broadcasts disclose that fighting between loyal Army troops and Communist rebels has spread to Sumatra, threatening rubber and oil; Radio Djambi says the Army was heavily engaged and Radio Malaysia reports Aceh action. Page is a
US Embassy telegram 971, 12 Oct 1965: a German embassy source says the Army is considering overthrowing Sukarno and signalling Western embassies; Sukarno refused to read PKI-complicity papers. High-politics context; no Gerwani content.
South China Morning Post, 15 Oct 1965, p.12, 'Torture squads in Djakarta: how Indonesian generals died', by a special correspondent. A lurid account of the 1 October killings: it says 'frenzied members of the Gerwani women's organisation' chanted insults and danced naked while Pemuda Rakjat youths emasculated six gener
Berita Harian editorial, 16 October 1965, p. 4, assessing the aftermath of the 30 September Movement: Untung's arrest crushes the armed army opposition, but 'opposition from cadres of Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani as well as SOBSI' continues, probably as guerrilla action; speculates on a Sukarno-Nasution compromise over th
Kitchener-Waterloo Record, 18 Oct 1965, p.1 (AP): Radio Jakarta announced a military ban on the Indonesian Communist Party and affiliates, issued in the name of Maj-Gen Umar Wirahadikusumah for the Jakarta area; SOBSI was banned, and Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwani, 'the party's women's wing', were also placed under the ban.
Leader-Post (Regina), 18 Oct 1965, p.10 (AP, Singapore/Jakarta): Radio Jakarta announced a military ban on the PKI and affiliates in the name of Maj-Gen Umar Wirahadikusumah; SOBSI banned, and Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwani, 'the party's women's wing', also placed under the ban. Further reports: attacks on PKI offices in Ba
Ottawa Citizen, 18 Oct 1965, p.3 (AP, Singapore): 'Jakarta outlaws Communist party.' Radio Jakarta announced a military ban on the PKI and affiliates in the name of Maj-Gen Umar Wirahadikusumah; SOBSI was banned nationwide, and Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwani, 'the party's women's wing', were also banned, with leaders ordere
Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, 18 Oct 1965, p.1 (AP, Jakarta/Singapore): Radio Jakarta announced a military ban on the PKI and affiliates in the name of Maj-Gen Umar Wirahadikusumah; SOBSI banned, and Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwani, 'the party's women's wing', also placed under the ban. Also reports attacks on PKI offices in Banda
US Embassy telegram 779A, 18 Oct 1965: Foreign Ministry aide Sutarto says anti-PKI action is spreading across Sumatra, Sulawesi and Central Java, targeting Subandrio. Early-aftermath political context; no Gerwani content.
De Waarheid, 19 Oct 1965, p. 3: report, citing foreign agencies, that Jakarta garrison commander General Umar Wirahadikusumo provisionally banned the PKI in and around Jakarta, along with SOBSI, Pemuda Rakjat, Gerwani and some student groups, and ordered their leaders to report to police or military posts before 24 Oct
Leeuwarder Courant, 19 October 1965, p. 3: per Radio Jakarta the garrison commander Umar Wirahadikusumah temporarily banned the PKI in Jakarta and its allied organisations, including Sobsi and Gerwani, the latter accused of taking part in the torture and murder of six generals. Army 'cleansing operations' continue; Sub
Calgary Herald, 19 Oct 1965, p.6: AP/Washington Post wire item from Singapore/Jakarta reporting that Indonesia's army banned the Communist party in Jakarta in the name of Gen. Umar Wirahadikusumah, also banning Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwani, 'the party's women's branch', and outlawing SOBSI. Mentions arrests of Radio Jakar
Daily Mail (London), 19 Oct 1965, p.2, by Arthur Cook from Singapore: Indonesia's ruling generals banned the Communist Party in Jakarta and its surrounding region; Radio Jakarta listed the organisations (People's Youth Front, Gerwani 'the Communist women's organisation', the peasants' and scientists' associations, stud
The Daily Telegraph (London), 19 Oct 1965, p.25, Rawle Knox from Singapore: Radio Jakarta announced a ban on the Indonesian Communist party in the Jakarta area (order attributed to 'Maj.-Gen. Kasomo' i.e. Umar Wirahadikusumah), its leaders told to report to police by Sunday; affiliates banned include Pemuda Rakjat, 'th
The Gazette (Montreal), 19 Oct 1965, p.2 (AP, Singapore): 'Sukarno resists pressure to dissolve Communists.' The army banned the PKI in Jakarta in the name of Maj-Gen Umar Wirahadikusumah, SOBSI outlawed, and Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwani, 'the party's women's branch', also placed under the ban; leaders to report within fi
USIA Research and Reference Service report R-158-65 (November 1965), a chronology of the anti-Communist campaign in Indonesia, 1-20 October 1965, built on Indonesian and foreign radio and press. Gerwani entries: Suharto's 4 Oct TV statement linking the generals' murders to Pemuda Rakjat and Gerwani training grounds; NU
Neue Berner Zeitung, 5 Nov 1965, DPA report 'How the Communist Party of Indonesia wanted to seize power: mass murders were planned'. Citing army-held 'captured plans', it claims the PKI intended to kill 10,000+ officers and officials, and to arm one million peasants and workers as a militia built from Pemuda Rakyat, BT
Neue Zürcher Nachrichten, 5 Nov 1965, 'Was Sukarno himself involved in the coup?' (dpa). Same DPA account: army-held plans allegedly show the PKI intended to murder 10,000+ officers and arm one million peasants and workers as a people's militia from Pemuda Rakyat, BTI, SOBSI and Gerwani cadres; the coup failed in 18 ho
Walliser Bote (5 Nov 1965) running a DPA report on the coup, repeating army-sourced claims of a PKI plan to murder 10,000+ officials and build a people's militia from Pemuda Rakyat, BTI, SOBSI and Gerwani cadres on the Peking model. Also puzzles over Sukarno's presence at Halim.
Leeuwarder Courant, 6 November 1965, p. 3: relays an armed-forces bulletin story by 'Djamilah', a 15-year-old Pemuda Rakjat member, who says she was ordered to Halim for training and that about 100 Gerwani women were given knives and razor blades and mutilated and stabbed a blindfolded man at dawn on 1 October. The pap