FRUS 1964-68 vol. XXVI, doc. 149: Intelligence memorandum, The Upheaval in Indonesia (6 October 1965)
FRUS 1964-68 vol. XXVI, doc. 149: CIA/OCI Intelligence Memorandum 'The Upheaval in Indonesia' (6 Oct 1965). Describes the 30 September Movement, Suharto's takeover and Sukarno's manoeuvres, and says GERWANI (the 'Communist women's front group') was reportedly involved. Quotes Suharto's 4 Oct statement that an area near
Film of murder of generals
Het Rotterdamsch Parool/ANP report (7 Oct 1965, p.1): Jakarta television showed a film of the exhumation of seven officers from the well at Lubang Buaya, with Suharto, voice trembling, saying the bodies were found near the air-force base training Pemuda Rakjat men and 'Gerwani' (for women) volunteers. A female voluntee
Dramatic funeral in Jakarta: lieutenant saved Nasution's life
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
Jakarta saw gruesome TV film of exhumation of generals' bodies
Twentsch Dagblad Tubantia (7 Oct 1965): Jakarta TV shows exhumation of the generals' mutilated bodies from the Lubang Buaya well; Suharto says they were found near the air-force base where Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani volunteers were trained, citing an arrested female volunteer from Cirebon. Also the generals' funeral and
Suharto's radio speeches and statements: Lubang Buaya well (snippet)
Snippet-only Renmin Ribao extract (20 Oct 1965, p. 3) from the compilation of Suharto's radio statements. Visible text is from his 4 October Lubang Buaya speech: the well site was an Air Force volunteer training centre with Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani activists, and arrested Gerwani trainees in Cirebon said they came fro
Suharto's radio speeches and statements of 1, 3 and 4 October 1965
Renmin Ribao (20 Oct 1965, p. 3) reprints Suharto's RRI statements of 1, 3 and 4 October 1965: he takes interim army leadership, calls the September 30th Movement counter-revolutionary, and at Lubang Buaya on 4 October says the well lay near an Air Force volunteer training centre with Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani activist
CIA Bi-Weekly Propaganda Guidance, 25 October 1965: WIDF 20th anniversary, Gerwani and the 30 September Movement
CIA Bi-Weekly Propaganda Guidance, 25 Oct 1965, calendar and background on the 30 September coup. It notes WIDF's 20th anniversary (26 Nov), lists GERWANI among PKI women's fronts (p.21), and repeats that about 3,000 PKI youth and women's group cadres were trained at Halim air base in September, with Gerwani and Pemuda
Dossier of a slaughter
Tribune (Sydney), 29 Jun 1966, p. 5: editorial attacking Western press whitewashing of the Suharto regime plus a long reconstruction of 30 Sep-1 Oct 1965 taken from the British New Left Review, portraying the movement as junior officers' action. It mentions that Halim auxiliaries from Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani took par
Dossier of a slaughter
Tribune (Sydney), 29 Jun 1966, p. 5: editorial attacking Western press whitewashing of the Suharto regime plus a long reconstruction of 30 Sep-1 Oct 1965 taken from the British New Left Review, portraying the movement as junior officers' action. It mentions that Halim auxiliaries from Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani took par
Berita Yudha, 1 October 1966
Berita Yudha, 1 Oktober 1966. First-anniversary issue: Suharto on Pancasila's 'magic power', Nasution on the Cakrabirawa, photo of Yani's exhumed body, an interview with a widow; Gerwani item on p. 1.
Berita Yudha, 5 October 1966: interview with Ibu Tien Soeharto
Berita Yudha, 5 Oktober 1966: wawancara Ibu Tien Soeharto. Armed Forces Day issue with a front-page interview with Ibu Tien Soeharto, 'May our children not inherit the barbarity and immorality of Gerwani', and Perwari conferring 'Penyelamat Revolusi' on Suharto.
Sinar Harapan, 6 Dec 1966: 'Night of Terror, Dawn of Hope' (V), Clarence Hall serial
Sinar Harapan, 6 Desember 1966: 'Malam Teror Fajar Harapan' (V). Serial translation of Clarence Hall's 'Indonesia: Night of Terror, Dawn of Hope' ends with the claim that the kidnapped generals were 'handed over to about 100 screaming Gerwani members'; also an essay on education as protection against betrayal.
Archive of the Event of 1965 in Indonesia (compilation incl. Anderson and McVey, Preliminary Analysis of the October 1,
Internet Archive compilation on the 1965 events whose main text is Anderson and McVey's Cornell 'Preliminary Analysis of the October 1, 1965 Coup' (1971), with source documents. It says Gerwani and Pemuda Rakjat trainees at Lubang Buaya were drawn into the killings (pp. 22-23) while stressing the army-fed 'orgy' storie
Archive of the Event of 1965 in Indonesia (compilation incl. Anderson and McVey, Preliminary Analysis of the October 1,
Internet Archive compilation on the 1965 events whose main text is Anderson and McVey's Cornell 'Preliminary Analysis of the October 1, 1965 Coup' (1971), with source documents. It says Gerwani and Pemuda Rakjat trainees at Lubang Buaya were drawn into the killings (pp. 22-23) while stressing the army-fed 'orgy' storie
The 1965 Coup in Indonesia: The CIA's Version (van der Kroef, 1976)
Critical review by Justus M. van der Kroef (Asian Affairs, Nov 1976) of the CIA's declassified 1968 report 'Indonesia-1965: The Coup That Backfired'. Takes issue with the CIA's claim that Lubang Buaya victims were not mutilated and that Gerwani/Pemuda Rakyat confessions were Army-contrived, quoting Gerwani member Djami
TAPOL Bulletin No. 37, January 1980: Indonesia's Political Trials
TAPOL Bulletin no. 37 (London, January 1980): editorial on the end of KOPKAMTIB's release plan, plus Julie Southwood's long study of 1,014 political trials since 1966. It notes the 1965 Lubang Buaya claim that communist women castrated the generals, and the 1975 subversion trial of Gerwani's Sulami and Sudjinah, with S
The trauma of 1965 itches and nags
Jan Bezemer's long Trouw weekend feature (30 Sep 1995) on the unresolved 1965 trauma. Covers the 30 September events, Suharto's role, US encouragement, massacres (Gatot's trial testimony) and the smear campaign against Gerwani. Draws on Saskia Wieringa's doctoral research: Gerwani was blamed for mutilating the generals
TAPOL Bulletin No. 169/170, Jan/Feb 2003: obituary of Sulami (Gerwani deputy secretary-general)
TAPOL Bulletin no. 169/170 (Jan/Feb 2003), with Carmel Budiardjo's obituary of Sulami (pp. 13-15). Born Sragen 15 Aug 1926, she joined Gerwis (Gerwani from 1951), became East Java executive member (1954) and second deputy secretary-general (1957), attended WIDF meetings, and was deputy secretary-general in 1965. Arrest
Communism in Indonesia, Vol. IV: The G30S/PKI Rebellion and its Suppression (1960-1965), Pusjarah TNI, 2009
Official Army history (Pusjarah TNI, Jakarta 2009), vol. IV of 'Komunisme di Indonesia', presenting Gerwani as a PKI mass organisation in the 1960-65 build-up and the G30S. It reports Gerwani's Nov-Dec 1964 housewives' seminar (p. 70), 'unilateral actions' (p. 122), the 27 Sept 1965 Surabaya governor's-office raid unde
Communism in Indonesia, Vol. IV: The G30S/PKI Rebellion and its Suppression (1960-1965), Pusjarah TNI, 2009
Official Army history (Pusjarah TNI, Jakarta 2009), vol. IV of 'Komunisme di Indonesia', presenting Gerwani as a PKI mass organisation in the 1960-65 build-up and the G30S. It reports Gerwani's Nov-Dec 1964 housewives' seminar (p. 70), 'unilateral actions' (p. 122), the 27 Sept 1965 Surabaya governor's-office raid unde
Tempo.co, 9 October 2015: The fall of the PKI, Suharto and the destruction of the women's movement
Tempo.co report (9 Oct 2015) on a Yogyakarta (UIN Sunan Kalijaga) discussion of Saskia Wieringa's book on the destruction of the women's movement. It summarises her argument that the military slandered Gerwani over Lubang Buaya as a pretext to kill; army press libel, and women forced to dance naked while soldiers photo
Years of Dressing Dangerously: Modern Women, National Identity and Moral Crisis in Sukarno's Indonesia (Sullivan, 2020)
Charles P. Sullivan's PhD dissertation (History, University of Michigan, 2020) reads Indonesian women's magazines (Wanita, Puspa Wanita, Varia) from 1945-66 to argue that the Lubang Buaya narrative about Gerwani worked as a 'post-text' of long-running anxieties over modernity, moral crisis and the 'Mother of the Nation
Tempo, 2 October 2021: Gerwani, Sukarno and polygamy (Gerwani and the dilemma of brotherhood)
Tempo essay (2 Oct 2021) by I Gusti Agung Ayu Ratih on why Gerwani did not criticise Sukarno's polygamy. It recounts Kowani expelling Gerwani on 29 Oct 1965 and removing Hurustiati Subandrio in 1966, the erasure of Gerwani from women's movement history, Perwari rivalry, Gerwani members' reverence for Sukarno, and anti-
Transformation of Gerwani: gender struggle to post-1965 stigmatisation (Aisyah, 2025)
Rania Dhiyaulhaq Aisyah, 'Transformasi Gerwani' (Jurnal Sejarah Indonesia 8:2, 2025), a literature-based article on Gerwani's pre-1965 gender activism (education, health, anti-polygamy, 1955 elections, PKI ties, congresses) and its post-1965 stigmatisation. It repeats Wieringa's finding that the Lubang Buaya sexual-vio