C. W. Wormser — published as Dr. C. W. Wormser — was a Dutch colonial administrator and author who, in 1946, edited and compiled the volume Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk (“What the Indies Received and Gave”) under the auspices of the Indisch Instituut and published by Wereldbibliotheek N.V. in Amsterdam. The volume brought together fourteen specialist contributors — among them Dr. Van Naerssen, Prof. Dr. Kernkamp, Dr. Brouwer, Dr. Van Hall, Mr. Dr. Caron, Ir. Van der Ploeg, Ir. Utermark and Pater Van Rijckevorsel — to produce a synthetic survey of the cultural, religious, educational, agricultural, mining and economic life of the Dutch East Indies on the threshold of Indonesian independence.
Role as editor of Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk
Wormser is named on the title page of the volume as the volume’s samensteller en verzorger (compiler and editor), with the contributors listed as his medewerkers (collaborators). The book appeared in 1946 — that is, in the immediate aftermath of the Japanese occupation of the Indies and the proclamation of the Republic of Indonesia, but before the formal transfer of sovereignty in 1949. The volume therefore reflects the late-colonial Dutch scholarly apparatus at its last moment of unchallenged self-presentation, even as the political ground was shifting beneath it.
For the Atjeh-focused reader, Wormser’s editorial hand is most visible in the chapters that draw on Atjeh material: the oudste cultuurstroomen (Van Naerssen), the invloed van den Islam (Kernkamp), the bestuursvormen (Caron), and the landbouw and mijnbouw chapters. Each of these digests Atjeh-related material from the standard colonial scholarship — chiefly Snouck Hurgronje’s De Atjéhers (1893–1894) and Kreemer’s Atjèh (1922–1923) — for a general Dutch readership.
Significance
Wormser’s significance in the AcehWiki corpus is largely editorial: as the volume’s compiler he is responsible for the survival, in mid-twentieth-century Dutch, of a particular synthesis of Atjeh material that would otherwise have remained buried in specialist monographs. His decision to include detailed Atjeh-specific material in chapters on Islam and colonial administration — including the Meuseugit Raja of Koeta Radja, the Meunasah, the Teungkoe, the Toean di boh, the Atjeh proverb on *adat* and *hokm*, and the *korte verklaring* policy of Van Heutsz — made the volume a useful point of entry for any educated Dutch reader in the late 1940s who wanted to know what had been written about Atjeh.
Dutch terms used in this article
- Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk — What the Indies Received and Gave
- Indisch Instituut — Indies Institute
- Wereldbibliotheek N.V. — World Library Ltd.
- Nederlandsch-Indië — Netherlands Indies
- korte verklaring — Short Declaration
- oudste cultuurstroomen — oldest cultural streams
- invloed van den Islam — influence of Islam
- bestuursvormen — forms of government
- mijnbouw — mining
- landbouw — agriculture
- onder de auspiciën van het Indisch Instituut — under the auspices of the Indies Institute
- Inhoud — Table of Contents
- samengesteld en verzorgd onder leiding van — compiled and edited under the direction of
- samensteller en verzorger — compiler and editor
- medewerkers — collaborators
- adat — customary law
- hokm — Islamic religious law
- Teungku — religious teacher (Atjeh form)
- Teungkoe — religious teacher (Atjeh form)
- Meuseugit Raja — great mosque of Koeta Radja
- Meuseugit Raya — great mosque of Koeta Radja
- Meunasah — village prayer-house
- pen — open/wide (Atjeh concept)
- Toean di boh — Lord of the garden (Atjeh fertility saint)
- Atjeh — Aceh
- Acheh — Aceh
- Koeta Radja — Kutaradja
- Kutaradja — Kutaradja
- Pater — Father (Catholic)
- Mr. Dr. — Master of Laws and Doctor (Dutch academic titles)
- Prof. Dr. — Professor Doctor
- Dr. — Doctor
- Ir. — Engineer (Dutch Ingenieur)
- De Atjéhers — The Acehnese (Snouck Hurgronje, 1893-94)
- Atjèh — Aceh (Kreemer, 1922-23)
See Also
- Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk
- Indisch Instituut
- Wereldbibliotheek N.V.
- F. H. van Naerssen
- W. J. A. Kernkamp
- L. J. J. Caron
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- J. Kreemer
- Joannes Benedictus van Heutsz
Source
Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk, samengesteld en verzorgd onder leiding van Dr. C. W. Wormser (Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek N.V., onder de auspiciën van het Indisch Instituut, 1946), title page and Inhoud.