The Atjeh-medaille (Atjeh medal) was a separately instituted bronze medal, struck from captured Atjehese cannon, awarded by the Dutch government to all military and civilian personnel who had served with the troops in Atjeh in 1873 and 1874 or as civilian officials in those years. The medal was popularly — though wrongly — called the Kraton-medaille (Kraton medal). Together with the Eerekruis voor belangrijke krijgsverrichtingen (the so-called Expeditiekruis) with the clasp “Atjeh 1873–1876”, the Atjeh-medaille was the principal campaign medal of the early Atjeh-oorlog. Generaal Snijders was awarded the Atjeh-medaille and the Expeditiekruis with clasp by right of his service in 1874–1875; the biographer Van den Berg records that Snijders, with Kapitein-Luitenant ter Zee J. Boom (who died in 1942 at the age of 95), was probably among the very last surviving holders of these honours.
Institution and Form
The Atjeh-medaille was a separately instituted decoration — distinct from the Militaire Willemsorde and the Eerekruis — and was struck in bronze from captured Atjehese cannon. The award criteria were broadly inclusive: “alle militairen en burgers, die hadden deel uitgemaakt van de, in 1873 en 1874 in Atjeh aanwezige troepen of burgerlijke staatsambtenaren.”
The Popular Name “Kraton-medaille”
The medal was popularly called the Kraton-medaille — a name the biographer explicitly corrects: “de Atjeh-medaille (in den volksmond ten onrechte Kraton-medaille genoemd).” The popular name derives from the capture of the Kraton of 24 January 24 January 1874, the central event of the second Aceh expedition and the occasion for which the medal was popularly supposed to have been instituted. The official name remained Atjeh-medaille.
Holders
The medal was awarded to all military and civilian personnel of the 1873–1874 Atjeh expeditions. Snijders received the right to wear the medal by grant of 17 March 17 March 1877, together with the Eerekruis with clasp “Atjeh 1873–1876”. The biographer notes that Snijders and Kapitein-Luitenant ter Zee J. Boom — who died in 1942 at the age of 95 — were “vermoedelijk wel tot de allerlaatste dragers” of both decorations.
Account from Van Son genealogy (1951) — manufacture from captured guns
The Van Son genealogy — in the entry for Livinus Diederik Mattheus van Son, who served in both Atjeh expeditions — records the receipt of the medal in a single phrase that explicitly identifies its material:
“In beide rangen nam hij bij het 9e Bataillon Infanterie en bij het expeditionnaire Bataillon Barisan van Madura, deel aan de 1e en 2e Expeditie tegen Atjeh in de jaren 1873 en 1874, waarna hij gerechtigd werd tot het dragen van het Eereteeken voor belangrijke krijgsbedrijven met gesp, als ook van de Atjeh medaille (vervaardigd uit het in Atjeh veroverde geschut).”
The genealogical record — a family document, not an official medal citation — is therefore a rare primary witness to the manufacture of the medal from captured Atjehnese cannon, and to the joint award of the medal with the Eereteeken voor belangrijke krijgsbedrijven met gesp (Decoration for Important War-Operations, with clasp). The cannon in question were presumably taken from the Kraton of Atjeh or its dependencies in the course of the second expedition of November 1873 – January 1874, which culminated in the capture of the Kraton on 24 January 1874 and the proclamation of annexation of 31 January 1874.
The pairing of the Atjeh-medaille with the Eereteeken voor belangrijke krijgsbedrijven met gesp is the documentary fact of the joint award: officers and men who took part in the first and second expeditions were entitled to wear both decorations. The Eereteeken was the general colonial award for important military operations; the Atjeh-medaille was the campaign-specific medal for the Atjeh expeditions.
Significance of the genealogical account
The Atjeh-medaille is significant for the encyclopedia of Achehnese history, in the genealogical record, on two counts. First, it is the principal Dutch military decoration associated with the Atjeh-oorlog, and therefore the principal documentary witness — in the genealogical record of the officers and men who earned it — to the institutional memorialisation of the campaign in the Dutch colonial army. Second, the explicit identification of its material — cannon captured in Atjeh — is a rare documentary witness to the practice of striking campaign medals from captured enemy metal, a practice that converted the captured artillery of the Kraton into the wearable insignia of the Dutch colonial soldier. The medal thus bridges the military and the symbolic dimensions of the Atjeh campaign: the captured cannon of the sultan transformed into the campaign medal of the conqueror.
See Also
Source
D. van den Berg, Cornelis Jacobus Snijders (1852–1939): Een leven in dienst van zijn Land en zijn Volk (Voorburg: September 1944), p. 36. Koninklijke Bibliotheek shelfmark 0301 4872.
Geschiedenis en genealogie van het geslacht Van Son, eertijds geheeten Van Broechoven, by H. J. A. van Son, Deel III: De Oudere Linie (Vervolg tot heden) (Dordrecht: Schefferdrukkerij, 1951), p. 36 (Tak B, generation XIa, entry for L. D. M. van Son).