US Embassy airgram A-218, 5 Nov 1966, on a Central Java trip showing the Army's 'ironclad grip': roadblocks, meeting bans, ID checks, prison numbers and ex-prisoners as pariahs. Women appear only as the Army lieutenant's wife in village pacification.
Harian Kami, 1 September 1967. Arrest in Jakarta on 29 Aug 1967 of Nyonya Djubaedah, wife of Nun Tjik AR, called 'cashier of Gerwani' and 'G30S/PKI ringleader', after two years in hiding; includes her biography.
De Waarheid, 29 Oct 1968, p. 1: report, via Reuters, that the Indonesian military regime executed PKI Central Committee members Njono and Sudisman and Yogyakarta PKI secretary Wirjomartono by firing squad in Jakarta Bay after secret tribunal hearings; an initial report on Supardjo and Ruslan Kamaludin was retracted. It
Angkatan Bersendjata, 15 April 1969. Antara: Medan police arrest a 30-year-old 'Gerwani' woman 'A' from Bali in a prostitution area, said to have 'taken part in the torture and killing of the TNI generals at Lubang Buaya'.
Official institutional history, 'Seperempat Abad DPR RI', compiled by the DPR-GR Secretariat for the 25th anniversary in August 1970; it traces parliament from the KNIP to 1970 with membership rosters. For Gerwani it matters in the 1965-66 chapters: it records the NU demand (5 Oct 1965) to ban Gerwani, the 15 Oct 1965
The Straits Times, 31 December 1970, p. 10, by Hugh Mabbett: Yogyakarta court acquits 17-year-old egg seller Sum Kuning (Sumarijem), who reported rape by youths from powerful families and was charged with a false report. Police tortured a noodle seller, Trimo, and threatened her with electric torture and an accusation
Canberra Times, 2 Jan 1971, p. 8 (Hugh Mabbett): reports the Sum Kuning case in Yogyakarta, where a 17-year-old egg seller was raped, then tortured by police and charged with a false report. Police tried to tar her with an accusation that in 1965, aged about 12, she was a Gerwani member; the court exposed the fabricati
Canberra Times, 2 Jan 1971, p. 8 (Hugh Mabbett): reports the Sum Kuning case in Yogyakarta, where a 17-year-old egg seller was raped, then tortured by police and charged with a false report. Police tried to tar her with an accusation that in 1965, aged about 12, she was a Gerwani member; the court exposed the fabricati
TAPOL Bulletin no. 25, December 1977 (London). Focuses on the 20 December releases from Buru and Tanjung Kasau, new 'resettlement' labour camps, the Amnesty report and Sudomo interview, the Sawito trial, student protests, and press reports (Newsweek, Economist, Age, Asahi, De Telegraf, FEER) on Buru. Page 11 rebuts Jen
TAPOL Bulletin no. 28 (London, June 1978): arms sales and Mondale's visit, 1978 student crackdown (Yogyakarta), W.S. Rendra's arrest, conditions of the 1977 releases, psychotests of detainees, the Latief trial. A letter from an East Java ex-prisoner describes the 'bon' killings of 1966–69 and a Malang women's prison ho
TAPOL Bulletin no. 52 (London, July 1982, 20 pp.): East Timor famine and the Nordland report, West Papua and transmigration, Dutch arms sales, Muslim political trials and torture, press bans (Tempo, Pelita), student repression, and an Atmakusumah book review noting that 46 of 163 newspapers were banned in October 1965.
TAPOL Bulletin no. 94 (London, Aug 1989), mostly on East Timor (new arrests, Prabowo-led operations, Bishop Belo's UN letter, asylum seekers), student trials in Yogyakarta, Kedung Ombo, Lampung evictions, forestry and population control. Gerwani is not mentioned. Relevant context: ex-tapols' 'ET' identity cards and 'cl
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
South China Sunday Morning Post, 23 Apr 2000, p.10, Vaudine England: profile of Sudjinah Halina (72), former Gerwani activist and political prisoner, as Indonesia reopens debate on 1965. She recounts Solo childhood, guerrilla courier work (1947-49), study at Gadjah Mada, the 1955 Prague youth festival, a job with the W
PhD dissertation (University of Michigan, 2012) by Andrew Conroe: an ethnography of former political prisoners (eks-tapol) and their children and grandchildren in Yogyakarta, centred on the group Fopperham, on memory, silence and uncertain family histories. Gerwani appears through family accounts and events: Bu Marni,
Tempo report (1 Oct 2012) on the Plantungan camp (Kendal) for women Group B political prisoners, opened 1971 in a former leprosarium. Names Gerwani activists and others held there: Sumiyarsi Siwirini ('Lubang Buaya doctor'), Siti Suratih, Mia Bustam, Pujiati, C.H. Sumarmiyati, Mujiati. Covers conditions, 'santi aji' in
Pohlman's 2013 article, from about 150 interviews, on women's stories of pregnancy, childbirth, raising, losing and aborting children during 1965-66 and detention, including cooperative childcare and a former Gerwani leader (Ibu Astuti). Gendered history of survival.
Wardaya's 2013 English edition of oral histories gathered 2008-11 by Sanata Dharma University's PUSdEP: witnesses from military, Muhammadiyah, Kejawen and Catholic backgrounds and survivors including women detained as alleged Gerwani; foreword summarises the Gerwani mutilation narrative and autopsy. Oral history source
Global Voices feature (30 Oct 2015; Indonesian repost 2016) on AJAR's project interviewing 26 women survivors, with photos and testimony of Vena Taka, Kadmiyati, Frangkina Boboy and Migelina Markus. Women survivors' testimony and demands for justice.
Book by AJAR with Komnas Perempuan (Oct 2015) from participatory research with women survivors. In the 1965 context chapter (pp. 39-40) it describes false rumours about Gerwani and the sexual slander of the generals, with violence against Gerwani members. Survivor testimonies name Christina Sumarmiyati (arrested again
Book by AJAR with Komnas Perempuan (Oct 2015) from participatory research with women survivors. In the 1965 context chapter (pp. 39-40) it describes false rumours about Gerwani and the sexual slander of the generals, with violence against Gerwani members. Survivor testimonies name Christina Sumarmiyati (arrested again
Free English-language magazine issue edited by Soe Tjen Marching (Bhinneka Nusantara, Surabaya), October 2015, of victim testimonies. Ex-women prisoners Hartiti, Maria Goretti Sumilah and Theresia Kadmiyanti describe Gerwani-related interrogation: nude-dance and genital-mutilation accusations, searches for a 'Gerwani m
Free English-language magazine issue edited by Soe Tjen Marching (Bhinneka Nusantara, Surabaya), October 2015, of victim testimonies. Ex-women prisoners Hartiti, Maria Goretti Sumilah and Theresia Kadmiyanti describe Gerwani-related interrogation: nude-dance and genital-mutilation accusations, searches for a 'Gerwani m
Bhinneka, October 2015 (Surabaya; ed. Soe Tjen Marching), a 1965 anniversary issue. Women ex-prisoners testify: Hartiti, a Gerwani member, was asked whether she joined the 'naked dance' and castrated the generals; Maria Goretti Sumilah was beaten and burned to confess she was Gerwani; Theresia Kadmiyanti ran a TK Melat
Bhinneka, October 2015 (Surabaya; ed. Soe Tjen Marching), a 1965 anniversary issue. Women ex-prisoners testify: Hartiti, a Gerwani member, was asked whether she joined the 'naked dance' and castrated the generals; Maria Goretti Sumilah was beaten and burned to confess she was Gerwani; Theresia Kadmiyanti ran a TK Melat
AJAR and partner submission to UN Special Rapporteur Juan Mendez (Oct 2016) arguing 1965 detainees' right to rehabilitation for torture remains denied, citing Law 26/2000 and stalled Komnas HAM findings; partners include women survivors' groups.
KBR report (23 Dec 2016) on former women prisoners and a Komnas Perempuan team visiting the Plantungan camp site: testimonies of Sumilah (forced to admit Gerwani membership, stripped) and Debora Oni, and the Lubang Buaya slander. Memorialisation of Plantungan.
Hearman's review essay (Archipel 99, 2020) of the documentary Pulau Buru: Tanah Air Beta (2016), in which Hersri Setiawan and Tejabayu Soedjojono return to Buru, with Ita Nadia and Ken Setiawan. Context on Buru and its memory.
Grace Leksana's review (Archipel 99, 2020) of the animated documentary A Daughter's Memory (2019, dir. Kartika Pratiwi), based on Svetlana Dayani Njoto's memories of detention with her mother and siblings after her father Njoto's arrest. Film review.
Tempo article, 1 May 2021, by Isma Savitri and Hardian Putra Pratama, on Lekra writer Sugiarti Siswadi: Lekra central leadership member from 1959, children's-literature advocate, author of the banned Sorga Dibumi, and editor of Api Kartini. Researchers cannot trace her life; one suspects she was jailed in Semarang in 1