Republic of Indonesia
SS Noordam
Hugo Wilmar is assigned to the Marine Information Service. He has since been promoted to Lieutenant. As a film operator, Hugo films the departure of the Dutch Marines from Camp Davis. The 2000 men board the SS Noordam, which will take them to the Indies.
The tour leads via the Mediterranean sea past Port Said and Aden, towards Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Then the Noordam leaves for Batavia. However, the English reported that a course should be set towards Malacca (Malaysia). On December 17, 1945, the Noordam arrives in Port Swettenham.
“It was only here that everyone began to realize clearly that we were really at the mercy of the English, who are not wrongly called by the Yanks“ Focking Limeys ”. We were allowed not to India or even on land. ” (letter dated Jan 2, '46)
It was not until March 1946 that the Noordam received permission to build in Indonesia. The Marine Brigade is stationed in Surabaya.
Fighting in East Java

Hugo Wilmar records the battles of the Marines with the Indonesian freedom fighters from the front lines. The situation is life threatening. The resistance of the Indonesian freedom fighters is greater than expected. In addition, the supply of troops is insufficient. Soldiers are killed every day.
To the great anger of Hugo Wilmar, only his "good news images" are released by the information service in the Netherlands. The dire conditions under which the Marines have to live and the bloody battles remain in the dark room. For Hugo, this censorship embodies the oppressive and petty-bourgeois character of Dutch culture. With some disillusionment and irritation, Hugo retires as a soldier in May 19476.
(…) As far as the publication is concerned, it will be published as much as possible
blocked and countered. Disgraceful! The Dutch people live in the firm conviction that we are lucky enough here in our beautiful East Indies. ” (Letter to parents, May 26, 1946)
Spaarnestad
Hugo returns to the Dutch East Indies as a journalist at the publishing house De Spaarnestad. On July 21, 1947, Hugo photographs the Marines landing in Pasir Putih. This landing, Operation Product, marks the beginning of the first Police Actions (Decolonization War).
In December 1957 Hugo Wilmar travels to Djocjacarta (now: Yogyakarta). He uses the press card of the American photo agency International News Agency. With this he goes zig in the den of the lion. He manages to shoot a photo series of the Republican leader Soekarno. Publisher de Spaarnestad publishes the report, as an anonymously purchased American report, in the Dutch magazines.
Photos Dutch East Indies 1946-1948
The photo gallery below is an overview of the photos of Hugo Wilmar from the family archive. More pictures can be found in various Dutch Archives. There is an overlap between the photos from the family archive and the collections of the Netherlands Institute of Military History (NIMH) and the Spaarnestad archive.
Timeline
