H. J. de Graaf
Hermanus Johannes de Graaf (2 December 1899 – 24 August 1984) was a Dutch historian specialising in the history of Java, Indonesia's most populous island.
Biography
De Graaf was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands in 2 December 1899, where he attended school. In 1919, he went to Leiden University to study history. The historian and orientalist Johan Huizinga was among his professors there. In 1926 he took up a government job in Dutch East Indies (today's Indonesia). While he sailed to Batavia, (today's Jakarta) he read about Indonesian history, sparking his interest for the first time. He was posted at Surabaya to become a history teacher in a Hogere Burgerschool (HBS, high school) for a year. Subsequently he moved to Batavia, first to work at the city's museum library, and then at the Inspectorate of Middle Schools. While at Batavia he met the Javanese professor Poerbatjaraka, who then gave him weekly lessons in Javanese language and culture. He began to pursue his scholarly interest while still having the Inspectorate job. His first scholarly article was published in 1929. In the same year he got married to a school teacher, Carolinia Johanna Mekkkink.[1]
In 1931 he left government service and became a schoolmaster in Malang, and then Prabalingga. In 1935 he returned to Leiden to earn his doctorate. His supervisor was H. T. Colenbrander, whose work had initially sparked his interest in Indonesian history. His dissertation, on the murder of Captain François Tack in the Mataram court in 1686, was "a landmark in the study of Javanese history",[2] according to M. C. Ricklefs. While historians had studied the history of Java before him, his work combined both Javanese and European sources as well as the historical method.[2]
Still in 1935, he returned to the Indies and resumed teaching in Surakarta. He took his Javanese students to visit historical sites and Islamic holy sites throughout Java, despite the school being a Protestant school. During school vacations he continued his research in Batavia, publishing articles on the Trunajaya rebellion and the fall of Mataram. He also wrote for the Chinese Geschiedenis in 1941. Fear about the work's unflattering description of the Japanese led its publisher to largely destroy it in 1942 as the Japanese took over the Indies as part of World War II.[3]
He was then interned and spent the war in several camps and befriended the botanist C. C. Berg. His wife was interned separately in a women's camp, and in 1944 their nine-year-old daughter Elisabeth Anna died in captivity.[4]
World War II was followed by the Indonesian National Revolution (1945–9) which pitted the newly independent Indonesia against the Dutch trying to regain its colony. He taught briefly in Bandung before Berg invited him to Jakarta to teach in what would become the University of Indonesia.[4]
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References
Citations
- ^ Ricklefs 1985, p. 191.
- ^ a b Ricklefs 1985, p. 192.
- ^ Ricklefs 1985, pp. 192–193.
- ^ a b Ricklefs 1985, p. 194.
Bibliography
- Ricklefs, M. C. (1985). "In Memoriam Dr. H. J. de Graaf: 2 December 1899 — 24 August 1984". Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. 141 (2/3). Brill: 191–201. JSTOR 27863672.