Depicting Gerwani as a band of murderers and devils (Stanley, 1999)
Short Indonesian essay by 'Stanley' (probably Stanley Adi Prasetyo) for a 1999 history seminar, quoting the canonical army account of Gerwani at Lubang Buaya and showing from the autopsy reports (Anderson, Dr Arief Budianto) that the genitals were intact and eye damage came from the fall into the well. Debunking the sl
S.K. Trimurti lights Kartini's fire (Historia, preview)
Historia premium feature by Budi Setiyono (preview only) on S.K. Trimurti's role in founding Gerwani, noting she resigned when Gerwani 'started leaning left' and chose her husband Sayuti Melik; opens at the Waluya Sejati elderly home. Partial text.
Gerwani and the Perfumed Ghost (Historia, preview)
Historia article by Martin Sitompul (preview only): after destroying Gerwani the New Order used the 'kuntilanak' image to restrict progressive women's movements; quotes Wieringa at a Kuntilanak Wangi discussion. Partial text.
The Communist Party of Indonesia 1951-1961: A Decade of the Aidit Leadership (Hindley, 1961)
Donald Hindley's 1961 ANU PhD thesis on the Indonesian Communist Party under the Aidit leadership, 1951-1961, covering PKI strategy, party-building, finances, mass organisations and elections. Section 'Women' (pp. 422-448, esp. 'Gerwani', pp. 428-441) traces Gerwis from its founding on 4 June 1950 (about 500 members) t
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
Saskia Wieringa's 1992 article comparing Gerwani and the New Order's PKK to criticise Molyneux's practical/strategic gender interests; contrasts Gerwani's alliance with Sukarno/PKI and democratic centralism with PKK's subordination via husbands. Foundational theoretical comparison.
Wieringa's 1993 article comparing Gerwani and PKK: Gerwani's growth from 500 Gerwis members in 1950 to a claimed 3 million, its campaigns, an eyewitness account of Lubang Buaya and the army's slander, ideology and a composite life history. Early comparative study.
Sexual Metaphors in the Change from Sukarno's Old Order to Suharto's New Order (Wieringa, 1996 working paper)
Wieringa's Nov 1996 ISS working paper, the first English version of her argument that the New Order was born from a sexualised propaganda campaign against Gerwani (Oct 1965-Mar 1967 an 'extended coup'), with an interview with a former Gerwani cadre. Early statement of the thesis.
Sexual Metaphors in the Change from Soekarno's Old Order to Soeharto's New Order (Wieringa, RIMA 1998)
Published RIMA version (1998) of Wieringa's 1996 paper, revised after Suharto's fall: the New Order legitimated itself through the army's slander campaign against Gerwani, part of an 'extended coup' of Oct 1965-Mar 1967, with a compact Gerwani history. Companion to the 1996 draft.
Kuntilanak Wangi: women's organisations in Indonesia after 1950 (Wieringa, transl. Hersri Setiawan, 1999)
Hersri Setiawan's Indonesian translation (Kalyanamitra, Dec 1999) of Wieringa's 1988 working paper 'The Perfumed Nightmare' on Indonesian women's organisations after 1950, with a compact history of Gerwani and the Lubang Buaya slander. Accessible Indonesian-language Wieringa.
Wieringa's 2000 article on communism and women's same-sex practices, prompted by Kowani chair Ine Sukarno's 1999 claim that Gerwani supported lesbianism; argues Gerwani's morality was puritan and heterosexual and that 'militant motherhood' threatened conservatives. Links Gerwani slander to sexuality politics.
The Birth of the New Order State in Indonesia: Sexual Politics and Nationalism (Wieringa, 2001)
Front matter only (title, contents, abstract) of Wieringa's ISS working paper 332 (Feb 2001) arguing the New Order legitimated itself through sexual politics, the military's 30-year slander of Gerwani. Body of the paper missing from the scan.
Saskia Wieringa's 2002 monograph, the foundational history of Gerwani: a semi-autonomous organisation with triple loyalty to feminism, nationalism and socialism, and the New Order's founding on manipulation of sexual symbols through the 1965 slander. Based on interviews with Umi Sardjono, Sulami, Sudjinah, Trimurti and
Annie Pohlman's 2004 article on what happened to Gerwani women and other tapol at arrest, trial, detention and release, using Sulami's and Sudjinah's memoirs and interviews; notes no woman arrested over Lubang Buaya was ever tried for it. Early study of women prisoners.
The Year That Never Ended: Understanding the Experiences of 1965 Victims (Roosa, Ratih and Farid, eds., 2004)
2004 Elsam/ISSI/TRuK volume distilling an oral history project of 260 victims, with essays including on women political prisoners (Josepha Sukartiningsih), rape in Central Java, survival strategies and Blitar Selatan. Introduction defends oral history against the Lubang Buaya myth.
Komnas Perempuan's 2007 report on gender-based crimes against humanity in 1965: 122 testimonies, an account of Gerwani's history and the 1965 press campaign behind the Lubang Buaya slander, and catalogue of rape, sexual slavery, detention and Buru. Key official source on women's experience.
Challenges of Political Rehabilitation in Post-New Order Indonesia: Gerwani (McGregor and Hearman, 2007)
McGregor and Hearman (2007) read Gerwani leaders Sulami's and Sudjinah's memoirs as political rehabilitation: distancing from the PKI, rebutting the Lubang Buaya slander, socialist critique and claims to citizenship. Key scholarly analysis of survivor memoirs.
Drakeley's 2007 article analysing the army's Oct-Dec 1965 psywar 'Lubang Buaya horror story' as a misogynist attack on Gerwani and a driver of the killings, tracing escalating claims in Angkatan Bersendjata, Antara and others, including the 'confessions' of Djamilah, Sujati and Saina. Core analysis of the slander.
Challenges of Political Rehabilitation: the case of Gerwani (McGregor and Hearman, 2007)
McGregor and Hearman's 2007 article reading Sulami's and Sudjinah's memoirs as political rehabilitation: both arrested 1967, tried 1975 for subversion; they distance Gerwani from the PKI and answer the sexual slander. Second copy of the paper (South East Asia Research).
Gerwani, Stigmatisation and the New Order (Ratna Mustika Sari, 2007)
Ratna Mustika Sari's 2007 book from her 2005 UGM thesis on the stigmatisation of Gerwani as a New Order power strategy, inspired by Wieringa and her Syarikat research on women victims in Kulonprogo and Sleman. Early Indonesian-language academic study of the stigma.
Soedjinah, Gerwani leader and supporter of Bung Karno (IndoPROGRESS, 2007)
IndoPROGRESS in memoriam (11 Sep 2007) for Sudjinah (1929-2007), Gerwani leader, WIDF secretariat worker and political prisoner, based on a 2000 interview: court-official family, anti-Japanese courier work, and later life. Obituary profile.
Influence of Gerwani's image on the women's movement 1966-1998 (Retnoningrum, 2009)
2009 Sanata Dharma history thesis by Elisabeth Retnoningrum on Gerwani's orientation, the New Order's spreading of a bad image of Gerwani, and later women's movement development; concludes the sexual mutilation story was untrue and legitimised the regime.
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
Ups and Downs of the Indonesian Women's Movement (Wieringa, 2010)
Ten-page digest (in Komnas Perempuan's 2010 compilation) of Wieringa's Kuntilanak Wangi, tracing Indonesian women's movements from Kartini and Poetri Mardika to Gerwani, its rivalry with Perwari, the 1965 slander and New Order corporatism (Dharma Wanita, PKK). Concise overview.
Wieringa's 2011 article condensing her research: the army's sexual slander of Gerwani was the spark without which the genocide would not have happened; reconstructs the Lubang Buaya night (about 70 women and girls, mostly Pemuda Rakyat volunteers) and reads the monument mural. Programmatic synthesis.
The leader's steadfast road: obituary of Umi Sardjono (Lilik HS, 2011)
Lilik HS's IndoPROGRESS obituary of Umi Sardjono (born Suharti Sumodiwiryo, Gerwani chair 1954-65, d. 11 March 2011): her funeral at Matraman, a visit to the Waluya Sejati elderly home founded on Sulami's initiative, and former leaders' memories. Literary-journalistic portrait.
Katharine McGregor's 2012 article on Indonesian women's ties with the WIDF 1946-65: the federation gave Gerwani a 'political compass', and Gerwani used it to win support for anti-imperialist domestic struggles and by the early 1960s shaped WIDF priorities. Core source on Gerwani and the WIDF.