The Atjeh-drukkerij (the Atjeh Printing Office) was the principal printing establishment in Kotaradja, the capital of Atjeh, during the late colonial period. It served both the colonial administration and the European and indigenous business community of Atjeh.
Known personnel
- N. Breukels — employed at the Atjeh-drukkerij from 1920 until the Japanese invasion of 1942, a period of over twenty years. After the war he did not return to Atjeh but instead became administrator of the N.V. De Deli Courant in Medan.
Historical significance
The Atjeh-drukkerij was part of the colonial communications infrastructure that sustained Dutch administrative and cultural presence in Atjeh. Printing offices in the colonial capitals served as the means by which official announcements, regulations, and newspapers were produced, and their existence was a marker of the level of colonial administrative development in a given region. The Atjeh-drukkerij in Kotaradja was one of several such establishments in the major centres of the Netherlands Indies.
Source
Oostkust van Sumatra-Instituut Mededeling No. 37: Deli-Figuren uit de jaren 1950 t/m 1952, compiled by Ir. F. J. J. Dootjes (Amsterdam, 1953).