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Hitler’s Asian Adventure: The Third Reich and the Dutch East Indies; The Creation of German Naval Bases; The Beginning of the End of the Colonial Era; German Aid for Soekarno’s Freedom Fighters and India’s Subhas Chandra Bose
From 1963 to 1981 Horst H. Geerken lived in the new-born Republic of Indonesia, at a time of upheaval after the end of almost 350 years of colonial rule and exploitation by the Netherlands. In both his professional and private activities he constantly came across German, Japanese and Indonesian eyewitnesses who had lived through the Japanese occupation and the presence of the German navy in Indonesia. The relations between the German Reich and what was then the Dutch East Indies were obviously closer and more varied than had been previously assumed. Hardly anyone was aware that Hitler was extremely interested in this distant archipelago and that thousands of German officers and seamen were in action in East and South-East Asia. Who knows that German U-boats and auxiliary cruisers penetrated deep into the Pacific and that the German Navy used the Kerguelen Islands in the South Polar Sea as a secret base? Or that Hitler gave massive support to the independence movements in Indonesia and India? Many of the German naval personnel chose to make Indonesia their home after the war and joined the Indonesian freedom fighters. The Second World War heralded the end of the colonial era in Asia, especially in South-East Asia. The role played in this process by the Third Reich should not be underestimated. The collaboration between the Axis powers, especially that between German and Japan, with all its problems, is also investigated. There was a lively exchange of new weapons technology. There was even the re-creation of a German Radar system in Japan under the management of a German engineer. Documents from the Third Reich's Foreign Ministry, published here for the first time, show how brutally and inhumanely the German men, women and children in the Dutch internment camps in the East Indies were treated by their captors. These documents are supported by evidence from contemporary witnesses. The author has encapsulated his many years of research in the two volumes of Hitler's Asian Adventure. It is a fascinating documentation of the German Navy's involvement in a theatre of war that has until now been neglected by historians.
574 pages, Paperback
First published February 4, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 4, 2025
This book isn't good. I will summarize why below:
It's ~550 pages long, yet, if all the repetitions, chapters unrelated to the book's premise and unnecessary fluff were to be cut out, we would probably have a book of roughly 200 to 300 pages. A number of chapters deal with topics only tangentially connected to Indonesia during World War 2, something the author occasionally admits - before wasting dozens of pages detailing, for example, the voyage of some imperial german ship near Australia during the first World War.
In addition to this, a not insignificant portion of the book is less (historical) research and more author's opinion. Usually, it isn't clear where the former ends and where the latter begins.
The citation is god-awful and not up to any academic standard. Entire books are usually given as a source (literature), without any page references. Worse still, every now and then websites such as Wikipedia, the Axis History Forum (!) or random - occasionally dead - links are 'cited'.
In some cases, the author entirely foregoes citing any sources, claiming to have spoken to eyewitnesses or reporting on his own first-hand experiences. I am not accusing him of having made these interviews up - although he may as well have, i would not know and i could not check for myself - but i find this type of 'evidence' lackluster at best. What, are we to consider the word of a former submariner in the 60s, describing events that took place in the 40s (a 20 year gap!), as gospel? Even if his claims contradict information from other sources? I think not.
The last problem i have with this book is a little more difficult to explain. While the author does not necessarily defend the Axis powers of World War 2 outright, his obligatory condemnation of Nazi Germany's as well as Japan's actions are most certainly overshadowed by a continuous and usually one-sided criticism of the allied cause. Ordinarily, this would not be problematic. However, topics which are controversial (and controversially discussed!) in historical academia are not presented in such a way: the literature used is very limited and usually biased. Using the memoirs/autobiography of a former Nazi official as a main source of information, for example, is, simply put, sloppy work, if not outright misinformation. Writing, it was 'unfortunate' that a certain course of action was not taken, which would have aided Nazi Germany during the war, is revealing. The Bengal Famine of 1943 is simply renamed to Bengal Holocaust, and the author claims that the indian colonial administration's actions (or lack thereof) are comparable to the Nazis' actions (in other words, the actual Holocaust). The author later downplays war crimes committed by the indonesian partisans fighting the returning dutch colonial authorities - right after having - rightly - criticized the Dutch for having double standards (in short: The Dutch criticize the Germans for occupying the Netherlands and molesting it's population, but then do the same in Indonesia, now in the role the Germans formerly had). And he does this after repeatedly criticizing the Allies for allegedly downplaying their own war crimes, while highlighting those of the Axis. What a wonderful parallel!
This fits right in with the author reproducing outright conspiracy theories, such as a german bomber (Ju 390) reaching the USA during World War 2.
Also, the book is really fucking boring like 60% of the time.
I don't recommend it. I learned very little.
It's ~550 pages long, yet, if all the repetitions, chapters unrelated to the book's premise and unnecessary fluff were to be cut out, we would probably have a book of roughly 200 to 300 pages. A number of chapters deal with topics only tangentially connected to Indonesia during World War 2, something the author occasionally admits - before wasting dozens of pages detailing, for example, the voyage of some imperial german ship near Australia during the first World War.
In addition to this, a not insignificant portion of the book is less (historical) research and more author's opinion. Usually, it isn't clear where the former ends and where the latter begins.
The citation is god-awful and not up to any academic standard. Entire books are usually given as a source (literature), without any page references. Worse still, every now and then websites such as Wikipedia, the Axis History Forum (!) or random - occasionally dead - links are 'cited'.
In some cases, the author entirely foregoes citing any sources, claiming to have spoken to eyewitnesses or reporting on his own first-hand experiences. I am not accusing him of having made these interviews up - although he may as well have, i would not know and i could not check for myself - but i find this type of 'evidence' lackluster at best. What, are we to consider the word of a former submariner in the 60s, describing events that took place in the 40s (a 20 year gap!), as gospel? Even if his claims contradict information from other sources? I think not.
The last problem i have with this book is a little more difficult to explain. While the author does not necessarily defend the Axis powers of World War 2 outright, his obligatory condemnation of Nazi Germany's as well as Japan's actions are most certainly overshadowed by a continuous and usually one-sided criticism of the allied cause. Ordinarily, this would not be problematic. However, topics which are controversial (and controversially discussed!) in historical academia are not presented in such a way: the literature used is very limited and usually biased. Using the memoirs/autobiography of a former Nazi official as a main source of information, for example, is, simply put, sloppy work, if not outright misinformation. Writing, it was 'unfortunate' that a certain course of action was not taken, which would have aided Nazi Germany during the war, is revealing. The Bengal Famine of 1943 is simply renamed to Bengal Holocaust, and the author claims that the indian colonial administration's actions (or lack thereof) are comparable to the Nazis' actions (in other words, the actual Holocaust). The author later downplays war crimes committed by the indonesian partisans fighting the returning dutch colonial authorities - right after having - rightly - criticized the Dutch for having double standards (in short: The Dutch criticize the Germans for occupying the Netherlands and molesting it's population, but then do the same in Indonesia, now in the role the Germans formerly had). And he does this after repeatedly criticizing the Allies for allegedly downplaying their own war crimes, while highlighting those of the Axis. What a wonderful parallel!
This fits right in with the author reproducing outright conspiracy theories, such as a german bomber (Ju 390) reaching the USA during World War 2.
Also, the book is really fucking boring like 60% of the time.
I don't recommend it. I learned very little.
February 1, 2019
110 - 2019
February 8, 2020
The best book I have ever read about this subject! Highly recommended!
November 6, 2015
Appeasing the Indonesians, selling books and glorify as a German in Indonesia, or should we say; East Asia? Terrible writing, absolutely no real scientific resources and a urge to define everything the Dutch did as a colonial power as wrong, no background check and no real interest in the real facts from both sides. Complete pulp fiction.
November 6, 2015
Appeasing the Indonesians, selling books and glorify as a German in Indonesia, or should we say; East Asia? Terrible writing, absolutely no real scientific resources and a urge to define everything the Dutch did as a colonial power as wrong, no background check and no real interest in the real facts from both sides. Complete pulp fiction.
November 6, 2015
Appeasing the Indonesians, selling books and glorify as a German in Indonesia, or should we say; East Asia? Terrible writing, absolutely no real scientific resources and a urge to define everything the Dutch did as a colonial power as wrong, no background check and no real interest in the real facts from both sides. Complete pulp fiction.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews