Rob Nieuwenhuys
| Rob Nieuwenhuys | |
|---|---|
| Born | Robert Nieuwenhuijs 30 June 1908 Semarang, Dutch East Indies |
| Died | 8 November 1999 (aged 91) Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Occupation | Writer, author, journalist, historian |
| Nationality | Dutch |
Robert Nieuwenhuys (Semarang, Dutch East Indies, 30 June 1908 – Amsterdam, 8 November 1999) was a Dutch writer of Indo descent. The son of a 'Totok' Dutchman and an Indo-European mother, he and his younger brother Roelof, grew up in Batavia, where his father was the managing director of the renowned Hotel des Indes.
His Indies childhood profoundly influenced his life and work. His Javanese nanny 'nènèk' (English: grandma) Tidjah and particularly his Eurasian mother created the benchmarks of his childhood environment. In his award winning book Oost-Indische spiegel, he states: "If I write about my childhood, I write about her world." and "My Indies youth was critical to my receptiveness to particular cultural patterns. It ingrained a relationship with Indonesia that is irreplaceable."
Nieuwenhuys is the Nestor of Dutch Indies literature.
In 1927 he (and his brother) moved to the Netherlands and enrolled in the University of Leiden, but abhorred academic life and never completed his study at the Faculty of Arts. He did however become acquainted with Indonesian nationalists studying in the Netherlands and adopted anti-colonial convictions.
In 1935 he returned to the Dutch East Indies and befriended his mentor, the iconic Indo writer E. du Perron. Perron influenced him to study the literary work of P.A. Daum and upcoming writer Beb Vuyk. He joined anti-colonial magazines as a writer, researcher and critic.
In 1941 he was a conscript medic in the KNIL and from 1942 to 1945 a Japanese POW. In the Japanese concentration camp Tjimahi he was part of a small group of intellectuals, including Leo Vroman and the iconic Tjalie Robinson, that for a while was able to print a camp periodical named 'Kampkroniek' (Camp Chronicles) and a pamphlet named 'Onschendbaar Domein' (Inviolable Domain).
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