CIA, The Indonesian Situation, report 61, 14 November 1965
CIA 'Indonesian Situation' report no. 61, 14 November 1965: continuing anti-communist action and mass killings, Aidit's presumed whereabouts, and 1,000 women demonstrating in Jakarta for permanent dissolution of the PKI women's auxiliary. Records an early anti-Gerwani mobilisation.
FO 371/180323: Attempted Coup against Sukarno [14] (Nov 1965)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180323 (c. 4-16 Nov 1965): Djakarta telegrams, Antara extracts and Foreign Office correspondence on the PKI's destruction, Subandrio, Nasution and Sukarno. Gerwani items: tel. 2480 (p. 39) reports a 8 Nov Jakarta rally of women's organisations demanding dissolution of the PKI and Gerwani;
FO 371/180325: Attempted Coup against Sukarno [16] (1965-1966)
UK Foreign Office file FO 371/180325 (1965), 'Attempted coup against Sukarno [16]': letters and telegrams from Djakarta, NATO Paris, Washington and The Hague, late November 1965 to January 1966. It follows the regional bans of the PKI, Sukarno's Nasakom speeches, Aidit's fate and translated interrogations of Untung and
Self-defence from panic: commentary on the hunt for communists
De Volkskrant commentary (11 Oct 1965) warning that the hunt for communists could drive Aidit's followers to armed self-defence. It describes Muslim demonstrators wrecking Aidit's and Njoto's houses and then "the headquarters of the communist women's organisation Gerwani", and army occupation of PKI headquarters in Ace
Abrupt change in Indonesia's political situation: Suharto takes control, mass arrests, PKI offices burned
Xinhua survey in Renmin Ribao (20 Oct 1965, p. 1) of Indonesia's first three weeks after 30 September, from Chinese-side sources: Suharto takes control, mass arrests (3,000 by 17 October), PKI headquarters burned, Harian Rakjat closed, universities shut, anti-Chinese incidents. Gerwani appears in the NU demand to disso
Peking Review no. 43, 22 October 1965: drastic changes in Indonesian political situation; Gerwani office burnt
Peking Review no. 43 (22 Oct 1965), Chinese state weekly, with a Xinhua round-up on 'drastic changes' in Indonesia after 30 September. It reports army-controlled Djakarta groups demanding dissolution of the PKI, Pemuda Rakyat and Gerwani (c. 5 Oct), Gerwani's office burnt down on 9 Oct, and the later banning order; Ren
LBJ National Security File: Indonesia, Communist Parties and Internal Politics, Nov 1965-May 1966
LBJ Library National Security File, Indonesia country file (vol. VI): US Embassy Jakarta cables and withdrawal sheets, mainly December 1965 to May 1966, on the army's moves against the PKI, Sukarno's speeches, student demonstrations and Suharto's rise. Gerwani appears twice. Embtel 2077 (17 Jan 1966) reports Bogor wall
Telegram 1425: Joint Situation Report no. 51, 12 Nov 1965
US Embassy Joint Situation Report no. 51, 12 Nov 1965: Army-Sukarno contest plus a security section on riots in Makassar, a massacre of 200 PKI prisoners in Bone and arrests in Jakarta. No Gerwani mention; shows how killings were framed as a 'security' item.
Airgram A-353: Joint Weeka no. 45, 30 Nov 1965
US Embassy Joint Weeka no. 45 (airgram A-353), 30 Nov 1965: Nasution says repression of the PKI has reached 'mass executions' in several provinces; Army-Sukarno contest. Note: Gerwani not specifically named in the excerpt; high-level context.
The masses did not rise (The Hindustan Times, 8 December 1965)
The Hindustan Times, 8 Dec 1965, Dennis Bloodworth (Singapore), 'PKI Debacle I: The Masses Did Not Rise': analysis of why the PKI collapsed after the 1 Oct coup: overrated membership, reliance on Sukarno and on army and air force penetration, no general strike, SOBSI dissolving. It reports Untung's alleged claim that m
Army plans to kill P.K.I. for ever (The Scotsman, 8 December 1965)
The Scotsman, 8 Dec 1965, Dennis Bloodworth, 'Army plans to kill PKI for ever': Suharto and Nasution press to destroy the PKI while Sukarno refuses to ban it; the article analyses the PKI's miscalculations. It repeats the slander that six generals were mutilated by 'doe-eyed girls' of the PKI's 'Gerwani' women's moveme
Evening Post (Wellington), 10 Dec 1965, commentary on the Indonesian Communists after the 30 September coup. It repeats the Lubang Buaya atrocity claim that six generals were 'horribly mutilated by doe-eyed girls' of the PKI's 'Gerwani' women's movement and thrown into a well, with Communist youth dancing at Halim; als
Sukarno the Key to Any Revolution in Indonesia (Evening Post, 10 December 1965), headline clipping
Headline-only clipping 'Sukarno the Key to Any Revolution in Indonesia' from the Evening Post of 10 Dec 1965; no further text. The full article repeats the Gerwani Lubang Buaya claim.
Sukarno the Key to Any Revolution in Indonesia (Evening Post, 10 December 1965), standfirst clipping
Standfirst clipping of the Evening Post article of 10 Dec 1965: the Indonesian Communists, 'almost overlords yesterday, almost outlaws today', miscalculated their moment, strength and strategy and the determination of the military and Muslims to wipe them out. Gerwani is not named in this fragment.
Sukarno the Key to Any Revolution in Indonesia (Evening Post, 10 December 1965), clipping on Gerwani claim
Clipping from the Evening Post of 10 Dec 1965: says Sukarno could not back the coup because of its brutality, and that six generals were 'horribly mutilated by doe-eyed girls' of the PKI's 'Gerwani' women's movement and thrown into a well, while Communist youth danced at Halim. This is the Lubang Buaya sexual-atrocity
Sukarno the Key to Any Revolution in Indonesia (Evening Post, 10 December 1965), closing clipping
Closing clipping of the Evening Post article of 10 Dec 1965: Nasution's escape over his garden wall and the murder of his five-year-old daughter; alleged PKI plans for arson and famine; the party's 'patriotic' image destroyed; Sukarno forced to appoint Suharto army chief while the Army mops up Communists in Central and
US Embassy Djakarta, Joint Sitrep No. 68, Telegram 1842 (22 December 1965)
US Embassy Djakarta telegram 1842, Joint Sitrep No. 68 (22 Dec 1965, Secret, sanitized, OCR rough). Reports Sukarno's speeches defending the PKI, including a Mother's Day gathering where he defended the PKI's women's affiliate (Gerwani), Nasution's 'basic guide' for crushing the PKI, the PNI purge, anti-Chinese violenc
Dossier of the Indonesian Drama (Lucien Rey, New Left Review, 1966)
Article by Lucien Rey (New Left Review no. 36, March 1966) reconstructing the 1 October 1965 events as a plot by dissident Central Java officers, plus a translated Asahi Shimbun interview with PKI deputy chair Njoto. Says People's Youth and Gerwani auxiliaries trained at Halim took part in the generals' executions in r
Neues Deutschland, 24 Feb 1966: Njono firmly defended the Communist Party
Page 7 of the SED daily Neues Deutschland, 24 Feb 1966, with a commentary and an ADN dispatch on the death sentence passed on PKI Politburo member Njono on 21 Feb. The dispatch says his defence counsel, Frau Sunito (Trees Sunito), also showed the accusations to be groundless. The commentary condemns the killings of Com
Neues Deutschland, 24 Feb 1966: Njono firmly defended the Communist Party
Page 7 of the SED daily Neues Deutschland, 24 Feb 1966, with a commentary and an ADN dispatch on the death sentence passed on PKI Politburo member Njono on 21 Feb. The dispatch says his defence counsel, Frau Sunito (Trees Sunito), also showed the accusations to be groundless. The commentary condemns the killings of Com
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
The Politico-Military Role of the Indonesian Armed Forces, October 1965-1968 (Fox, 1968)
Edward J. Fox, University of Chicago MA dissertation (1968; the catalogue title says PhD) on the Indonesian armed forces' control programme and the pattern of violence from October 1965 to early 1968. Gerwani appears only in passing: a footnote cites 1.75 million members and notes its self-dissolution (p.32), and one u
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
Indonesian Communism since the 1965 Coup (van der Kroef, 1970)
Article by Justus M. van der Kroef (Pacific Affairs, spring 1970) on the PKI underground and army counter-campaign after 1965, from the Blitar and Purwodadi operations to political prisoners and Moscow/Beijing exile factions. Gerwani appears once (p.50): arrests of former Communists 'including members of Gerwani (the P
Sukarno, founder of Indonesia
Algemeen Handelsblad obituary-profile of Sukarno (1970-06-22), covering his life, Guided Democracy, Nasakom, and the 30 September 1965 events, which it blames on palace guards and communist groups, followed by an anti-communist reaction costing 'tens of thousands' of lives. A photo caption states General Yani was murde
Dynamics of Tokyo-Djakarta Interactions, 1951-1966 (Nishihara, 1973)
Masashi Nishihara's 1973 Michigan PhD thesis on Japanese-Indonesian relations 1951-1966: war reparations, the Kishi-Sukarno settlement, lobbies, the Malaysia confrontation and the 'Sukarno groups'. Gerwani appears only once (pp. 285-286): the Nasution-Suharto group's claim that Pemuda Rakyat, Gerwani and SOBSI trained
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
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