Delegation to US embassy protests bacteriological war in Korea
De Nieuwsgier, 27 June 1952 (Sin Po): on the Korean War anniversary, a nine-organisation delegation including Gerwis, SOBSI, Pemuda Rakjat, Lekra and the peace committee protests at the US embassy against alleged bacteriological warfare, but is turned away. They write to the foreign minister asking Indonesia to press f
Surabaya branch of People's Security Congress founded to secure the elections
De Vrije Pers report (6 Oct 1954) on founding a Surabaya branch of the Congress Keamanan Rakjat to secure the coming elections, chaired by Pemuda Rakyat's Moh. Rasjad. Ansor objected; SOBSI, Lekra, Gerwani, IPPI and others agreed, and Gerwani Surabaya was elected second treasurer.
Statements
Short Algemeen Indisch Dagblad item (1956-11-12, p. 2): a campaign of protest statements and telegrams against the British-French and Israeli attack on Egypt (Suez) is sent to the Indonesian government and British and French embassies by SOBSI, Sarbupri, Lekra West Java, Gerwani, OBSI Sumatra, KBKI Bandung, SBII and Pe
CIA Current Intelligence Weekly Summary, 12 November 1959
CIA Current Intelligence Weekly Summary, 12 Nov 1959, a long multi-topic report; the Indonesia part (pp.23-27) assesses PKI strength (Aidit's claim of 1.5 million members, Java as base, army and Sukarno restrictions, Aidit's 1959 Moscow and Peking trip). It names GERWANI as the PKI's women's front, alongside Pemuda Rak
Pravda, 2 Mar 1960: Gerwani among Indonesian mass organisations at Khrushchev's farewell
Pravda, 2 Mar 1960 (No. 62), pp. 1-3, 5 (machine-translated): coverage of the end of Khrushchev's 12-day visit to Indonesia (farewell speeches by Khrushchev and Sukarno; Calcutta stop). Pp. 2-3 report a farewell meeting on 29 Feb with delegates of mass organisations, naming 'the Indonesian women's movement (Gerwani)' a
We All Are Lumumba (Lekra booklet, 1961)
Short Lekra booklet of 1961 mourning Patrice Lumumba, with poems by S. Anantaguna, Bandaharo, Njoto and Sitor Situmorang, translated into English (file name credits Bintang Suradi). It closes with 'A Letter for Pauline', written by the young woman writer Sugiarti Siswadi for International Women's Day 1961. Gerwani is n
We All Are Lumumba (Lekra booklet, 1961)
Short Lekra booklet of 1961 mourning Patrice Lumumba, with poems by S. Anantaguna, Bandaharo, Njoto and Sitor Situmorang, translated into English (file name credits Bintang Suradi). It closes with 'A Letter for Pauline', written by the young woman writer Sugiarti Siswadi for International Women's Day 1961. Gerwani is n
Berita Yudha, 8 October 1965
Berita Yudha, 8 Oktober 1965. First issue using 'Gestapu': Gerwani appears five times as an organisation to be dissolved, including Perti, PMKRI and Sarbumusi backing the NU-PSII demand to dissolve 'PKI, PR, Gerwani, CGMI, Lekra'.
Berita Yudha, 14 October 1965
Berita Yudha, 14 Oktober 1965. Regional items: 105 organisations of South Kalimantan demand dissolution of the PKI and affiliates including Gerwani; Aceh demands; Gerwani listed among organisations to be banned.
Suara Merdeka, 20 October 1965, p. 1: Suharto order of the day and suspension of PKI organisations
Suara Merdeka (Semarang), 20 Oktober 1965, hlm. 1. Front page with Suharto's first order of the day and the RRI report of the Pepelrada Jakarta decree suspending PKI, Pemuda Rakyat, Gerwani, BTI, CGMI, Lekra and others; one of the first formal measures against Gerwani.
Suara Merdeka, 22 October 1965, pp. 2-3: Semarang mass action, Majalengka dissolution, student demands
Suara Merdeka (Semarang), 22 Oktober 1965, hlm. 2–3. Editorials on Col. Katamso and the Semarang mass action, self-dissolution in Majalengka co-signed by a Gerwani representative, and UI students demanding dissolution of PKI, Gerwani and others.
Berita Yudha, 16 November 1965. Puspen AD report that the PKI in Ambon dissolved itself and its former Maluku head Umar Lestaluhu instructed PKI, PR, Gerwani, SOBSI, Lekra, IPPI, CGMI and BTI to follow.
Angkatan Bersendjata, 25 February 1966
Angkatan Bersendjata, 25 Feb 1966, during Untung's Mahmillub trial. A Padang anecdote mocks a PKI figure who called Gerwani 'Gargani' and Lekra 'Lecigak'; new Dwikora cabinet installed.
Angkatan Bersendjata, 9 October 1966 (Weekly Edition)
Angkatan Bersendjata, 9 Oktober 1966 (edisi Mingguan). Cultural-page polemic against Lekra calls it a 'myth' that 'without Gerwani the women's movement has no meaning'; issue dominated by ABRI's 21st anniversary and the Subandrio trial.
Angkatan Bersendjata, 5 August 1967
Angkatan Bersendjata, 5 Agustus 1967. Siliwangi commander Dharsono hands West Java prosecutors case files of 141 'G.30.S/PKI persons' from Pemuda Rakyat, BTI, SOBSI, Gerwani and Lekra; Sukarno confined to Bogor.
RAND memorandum RM-5753-PR (Feb 1969), Guy J. Pauker, 'The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Indonesia'. Argues, from trial records, that Aidit planned the 30 September action against the generals and traces PKI strategy, the Chinese turn, the agrarian 'unilateral actions' and the killings (up to 300,000), and th
Suharto's answer (Lekra artists persecuted)
De Waarheid, 6 Nov 1976, p. 2: fragment on Suharto's destruction of the Lekra cultural movement in 1965 (book burnings, banned art), with a long list of murdered or imprisoned artists, including Pramoedya, Henk Ngantung, Bujung Saleh and writer Sugiarti Siswadi, noted as sentenced to 12 years (OCR garbled). Also an unr
After 12 Years Freedom (Post-Courier, 19 January 1978)
Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, 19 January 1978, p. 5, feature by George Oliver on the release of 10,000 political prisoners held since the 1965 coup, with PKI members forced to swear loyalty. It describes the Category A, B, C system, the 1965-66 massacres (estimates up to half a million killed), Amnesty International's
After 12 Years Freedom (Post-Courier, 19 January 1978), clean OCR
Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, 19 January 1978, p. 5, clean OCR of George Oliver's feature on the release of 10,000 political prisoners held since the 1965 coup (same article as GA-00267). It covers the official and alternative accounts of 30 September, killings of perhaps half a million, half to three-quarters of a mi
Letters: Suharto's murderous fear of old, loyal communists
Reader's letter in NRC Handelsblad (6 Jul 1985) answering a plea for clemency for old communists. The writer asserts the Lubang Buaya generals' murder was 'historically' the PKI's work, 'assisted by the communist women of the Gerwani', cites televised exhumation, and attacks Pramoedya's Nobel candidacy. Repeats the New
For a free Indonesia (founding of the Wertheim Foundation)
De Waarheid report (30 Nov 1987, p.4) on the launch of the Wertheim Foundation, where W.F. Wertheim praised a Hendra painting of a male and female guerrilla. He argued that the Suharto regime rests on mass murder and falsified history, and that one task is to write the real history of Gerwani, Lekra, SOBSI and the PKI.
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
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.
Dunia Milik Kita: liner and production notes (Dialita, 2016)
Release page for Dialita's free album Dunia Milik Kita (17 Aug 2016, Yes No Wave): ten songs, most written in prison camps (Bukit Duri, Plantungan, Ambarawa, Salemba) or by Lekra composers, arranged by young indie musicians. Documents the choir of women ex-prisoners.
Sexual violence against women after the 1965 events (Historia, 2017)
Historia report (17 Mar 2017) on a Komnas Perempuan/YLBHI/IPT 65 session on sexual violence after 1965, opening with Bedjo Untung's case of Zaenab, a 12-year-old in Pekalongan stripped and repeatedly raped by soldiers. Testimony on sexual violence.
Breaking the silence with music (Anett Keller, 2019)
Anett Keller's 2019 südostasien feature (German) on music breaking silence about 1965: Genjer-genjer and its composer Muhammad Arief, Lekra composer Subronto Atmodjo, New Order policy, and post-1998 projects. Context on music and memory.
Tamasya Taman Bunga: In Search of Mia Bustam (zine, 2025)
Booklet by the Bersemai Sekebun community and Lauk Buku (2025) retracing the life of artist and Lekra figure Mia Bustam through Semarang sites, with essays and a tour report. It covers her 1965 arrest, imprisonment in Plantungan camp and Bulu women's prison, and her four memoirs. Gerwani is not named; it concerns women
Tamasya Taman Bunga: In Search of Mia Bustam (zine, 2025)
Booklet by the Bersemai Sekebun community and Lauk Buku (2025) retracing the life of artist and Lekra figure Mia Bustam through Semarang sites, with essays and a tour report. It covers her 1965 arrest, imprisonment in Plantungan camp and Bulu women's prison, and her four memoirs. Gerwani is not named; it concerns women