Drie Atjeh-mannen (1936)

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tagsdocument, book, colonial, dutch, aceh, biographical, 20th-century, source, snouck-hurgronje, van-heutsz, van-daalen, damste
aliasesDrie Atjeh-mannen (1936), Drie Atjeh-mannen, Drie Atjèh-mannen, Three Aceh Men, Damste Drie Atjeh-mannen, H. T. Damsté Drie Atjeh-mannen

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Drie Atjeh-mannen (“Three Atjeh Men”) is a Dutch-language biographical essay of twenty-eight pages by H. T. Damsté, published in September 1936 — the same month as the death of Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje on 26 June 26 June 1936 — that treats the three principal Dutch figures of the Atjèh-oorlog: Snouck Hurgronje, Van Heutsz, and Van Daalen. The essay, written by a former colonial official who had himself served two Atjèh periods and had lived through “the period-Van Heutsz almost entirely”, draws on the author’s personal knowledge and on archival letters from the estates of Snouck Hurgronje, Van Daalen, and the general Van der Maaten to correct, supplement, and bring to life the published record of the Atjèh-oorlog.

Authorship and Purpose

The author, H. T. Damsté, states his purpose in the opening: since 1916 he had been publishing occasional Atjèh-history in the Koloniaal Tijdschrift; he had since been given access to important letters from the archives of Professor Snouck Hurgronje, General Van Daalen, and General Van der Maaten; and he had himself, in Indian service, twice experienced an Atjèh period and had lived through “the period-Van Heutsz almost entirely”. He had gathered a knowledge of facts and figures that, with respect to what had hitherto been published, was “corrective, supplementary, and would gain in life and relief”. Light and shadow would, he wrote, sometimes fall differently than in the published record.

The author’s ordering of his three subjects is significant. He places Snouck Hurgronje first, Van Heutsz second, Van Daalen third — observing that most would put Van Heutsz first (with his memorials at Batavia, Koetaradja, Coevorden, and Amsterdam), but that Van Daalen could equally be put first as the one whose life and striving was most and most undividedly devoted to Atjèh. The author holds to his order: Snouck Hurgronje — Van Heutsz — Van Daalen.

Structure

The essay is organised in three principal sections, of which the first (on Snouck Hurgronje) is by far the longest and the most detailed:

  1. Snouck Hurgronje — from his birth at Oosterhout on 8 February 8 February 1857, through his theological and Semitic studies at Leiden from 1874, his doctorate on 24 November 24 November 1880 on the dissertation “Het Mekkaansche Feest”, his stay at Strasbourg under Nöldeke, his teaching at the Leiden Indische Instelling, his controversy with Mr. L. W. C. van den Berg over the Minhādj at-tālibin, his journey to Djidda on 28 August 28 August 1884 with the consul Kruijt, his six-month residence at Mekka from 21 February 21 February 1885 as the convert “Abd al-Gaffār”, his expulsion from Mekka on 5 August 5 August 1885 through the lies of the French vice-consul De Lostalot, his return to Leiden and his lectures at the Indische Instelling at Leiden and Delft, his interest in Atjèh aroused by the Atjèhse pilgrims at Mekka and by the letters of Teungkoe di Tirò brought to him by the controleur Van Langen in 1887, his offer of advice to the minister Keuchenius on 26 July 26 July 1888, his despatch to Indië in the spring of 1889 with a special commission to study the institutions of Islam (not, originally, Atjèh), his frustrated attempt to visit Atjèh incognito in March 1889 (frustrated by the assistent-resident Goossens of Groot-Atjèh, with the concurrence of the governor Van Teijn), his residence at Atjèh from July 1891 to February 1892 (where he survived the governorship of Pompe van Meerdervoort and saw the arrival of Deijkerhoff on 31 January 31 January 1892), his Verslag omtrent de religieus-politieke toestanden in Atjeh closed on 23 May 23 May 1892, the publication of De Atjèhers (Vol. I, 1893; Vol. II, 1894) with the Bekendmaking Nederburgh prefatory note, the substance of his advice (Keumala to be left alone; the actively hostile party to be beaten, not negotiated with; trust to be restored by promoting agriculture, industry, and trade), the Teukoe Oema policy of Deijkerhoff as a distortion of Snouck Hurgronje’s footnote advice, and the final catastrophe of March 1896 when Teukoe Oema defected with Dutch rifles, ammunition, and rix-dollars.

  2. Van Heutsz — to be continued (the essay ends with the Snouck Hurgronje section and the words “Wordt vervolgd” — to be continued).

  3. Van Daalen — to be continued.

The Snouck Hurgronje Section

The Snouck Hurgronje section is, in effect, a sustained biographical essay in itself. Damsté opens with the French savant Chailley Bert’s description of Snouck as seen at Batavia in 1897:

“Ceux qui l’ont vu ne sauraient l’oublier. Quarante ans, des yeux de lumière, un front de génie, un visage d’ascète, il est le plus rare assemblage de savoir, de labeur et tout à la fois de modestie et de hauteur scientifiques.”

He closes with the observation that “Il est de ces ouvrages que Dieu tire à peu d’exemplaires” (He is one of those works that God draws in few copies).

Between these two characterisations, Damsté traces the arc of Snouck Hurgronje’s life and work, with particular attention to the Atjèh mission. The account of the frustrated March 1889 attempt to visit Atjèh incognito — blocked by the assistent-resident Goossens of Groot-Atjèh, who persuaded the governor Van Teijn that the visit would awaken distrust and jeopardise the pending submission of the Keumala-party — is one of the most detailed in the literature. Damsté’s judgement is double-edged: the refusal was “een onpleizierige streep door zijn atjèhsche rekening” (an unpleasant line through his Atjèh account) for Snouck Hurgronje at the time; but in retrospect it was perhaps as well, for the wandering of the geographer-scholar through the Atjèh interior would have been “een hachelijk, een hoogst gevaarlijk experiment” (a hazardous, a highly dangerous experiment).

The account of the July 1891–February 1892 residence at Atjèh, of the Verslag of 23 May 23 May 1892, and of the publication of De Atjèhers with the Bekendmaking Nederburgh, is the most detailed in the literature. Damsté quotes at length from the Verslag’s prescription (Keumala to be left alone; the actively hostile party to be beaten; trust to be restored by promoting agriculture, industry, and trade), and from Deijkerhoff’s reply of 17 July 17 July 1893 — the governor’s contemptuous dismissal of Snouck Hurgronje’s advice as a “stokpaardje” (hobby-horse) of Islam, and his substitution of the Teukoe Oema policy.

The essay closes with the catastrophe of March 1896, narrated as the personal encounter between Snouck Hurgronje and the engineer IJzerman at Priok: IJzerman, just back from an Atjèh journey and full of praise for Deijkerhoff’s policy, encounters Snouck Hurgronje and cries: “Dat gaat dan maar goed op Atjèh!” (Things are going well on Atjèh then!). Snouck Hurgronje replies: “Ja, Oema is zoo juist weggeloopen met medeneming van een vracht geweren, munitie en rijksdaalders” (Yes, Oema has just run off, taking with him a load of rifles, ammunition, and rix-dollars). IJzerman: “Onmogelijk!” (Impossible!). Snouck Hurgronje: “Nu, het is Deijkerhoff zelf die die onmogelijkheid heeft getelegrafeerd!” (Well, it is Deijkerhoff himself who has telegraphed that impossibility!).

Significance

The essay is one of the principal biographical sources on Snouck Hurgronje’s Atjèh mission, drawing on the author’s personal knowledge and on archival letters from the Snouck Hurgronje, Van Daalen, and Van der Maaten estates. Its account of the frustrated March 1889 attempt to visit Atjèh incognito, of the July 1891–February 1892 residence at Atjèh, of the Verslag of 23 May 23 May 1892, and of the publication of De Atjèhers with the Bekendmaking Nederburgh, is the most detailed in the literature. Its publication in September 1936 — the same month as Snouck Hurgronje’s death on 26 June 26 June 1936 — places it as a kind of memorial essay. The essay’s “Wordt vervolgd” (to be continued) — the Van Heutsz and Van Daalen sections are not in the present file — leaves the work incomplete; but the Snouck Hurgronje section alone is one of the principal biographical sources on the scholar’s Atjèh mission.

See Also

Source

Drie Atjeh-mannen: Snouck Hurgronje — Van Heutsz — Van Daalen, door H. T. Damsté (September 1936). OCR-filename: 20260718_105749_DLP-111-Drie_Atjeh_mannen_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 1–28.

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