Collective Memory and the Dutch East Indies : Unremembering Decolonization Frontmatter Table of Contents Abbreviations Acknowledgements Introduction 1 Collective Memory and Unremembering 2 Representations during the War 3 Post decolonization: The First 20 Years 1949 1969 4 Breaking the Silence 5 Postmemory 6 Loe de Jong Controversy 7 Remembering the War 8 Conclusion Bibliography Index This book examines the afterlife of decolonization in the collective memory of the Netherlands. It offers a new perspective on the cultural history of representing the decolonization of the Dutch East Indies and maps out how a contested collective memory was shaped. Taking a transdisciplinary approach and applying several theoretical frames from literary studies sociology cultural anthropology and film theory the author reveals how mediated memories contributed to a process of what he calls “unremembering.” He analyses in detail a broad variety of sources including novels films documentaries radio interviews memoires and historical studies to reveal how five decades of representing and remembering decolonization fed into an unremembering by which some key notions were silenced or ignored. The author concludes that historians or the historical guild bear much responsibility for the unremembering of decolonization in Dutch collective memory