Christoffel — Toean Kristoppel (in the Acehnese idiom of the old hunter Datoek), kapitein Christoffel — was a Dutch maréchaussée officer and commander of the Colonne Matjan (Tiger-Colonne) of the Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen in Aceh, selected in 1908 to form the special twelve-brigade division raised to break the revolt spreading from Lho Soekon, Keureutoe, and Pasé. In Oost-Indisch Journael by Merac (1947), Christoffel is the fourth-named in Musket’s list of the Marechaussee commanders, and the first of the sobat kras (heavy friends) whom Datoek names — “I was a ‘heavy friend’ with Toean Kristoppel” — noting that Christoffel was, in Datoek’s time, still a corporal. He was chosen, Zentgraff writes, as a man hard en ongenadig als een rots (hard and merciless as a rock), who would receive eene vrijwel onbeperkte volmacht (an almost unrestricted mandate) and would, ten koste van wat dan ook (at whatever cost), restore order with uiterste gestrengheid (utmost severity).
Datoek’s sobat kras
“I was a ‘heavy friend’ with Toean Kristoppel, and Toean General Van Heutsz, and Toean Scheepens, and Toean Darlang, and Toean Boreel, and Toean Governor Swart. Very many, and all very brave.” Datoek’s list of his sobat kras begins with Toean Kristoppel — Christoffel. The book notes that Christoffel was, in Datoek’s time, still a corporal — he rose from a corporal in Datoek’s time to Marechaussee commander and commandant of the Colonne Matjan.
Account from Atjeh by H.C. Zentgraff (1938)
Selection of the force at Tjimahi
Christoffel was given leave to compose his own colonne. Christoffel ging naar Java, waar vooral in het groote garnizoen Tjimahi zeer veel oudere maréchaussée’s dienden — Christoffel went to Java, where in the great garrison of Tjimahi many older maréchaussée’s served, men of great experience in the Atjeh work who had rested in a healthy peace-garrison for a while but were now zat (sated) with it and longed to return to the rimboe. He picked out the best brigadecommandanten too — men who had had den buik vol (their belly full) of peace-garrison silliness: zooveel malen daags appèl, en theorie — of which they knew less than a milicien-korporaal because they understood the practice so well.
The red neckerchief and the boedjangs
To the bloedvingers op den kraag van hun jas (blood-fingers on the collar of their coat) that all maréchaussée’s wore, Christoffel gave his colonne nog een apart distinctief: een rooden zakdoek welken zij zich om den hals knoopten (a separate distinction: a red neckerchief which they knotted about their necks), ten teeken dat zij een ziertje bloederiger zouden optreden dan de maréchaussée-braaf, de gewone — as a sign that they would act a trifle bloodier than the ordinary maréchaussée. The colonne was twelve brigades. So far as possible the front section (voorste sectie) was made up of boedjangs — bachelors who had nothing behind them to fret about.
Systematic harshness
The vijand kende den naam Christoffel (the enemy knew the name Christoffel); when the colonne was transported per tram to its bivak Panton Leubeuë, the rails were torn up before and behind it. Het bracht zelfs geen uitstel van executie (it caused not even a delay of execution). The colonne’s task was tot elken prijs de situatie meester te worden, en het verzet te breken, and it did this systematisch en met uiterste hardheid: permanent execution-squads (parate executie) were kept ready, and the malcontents fell by the dozen. The schoonmaak began in the vlakte (plain) and was summier en grondig (summary and thorough); soon the war lost its popularity with much of the population.
Succession
After the situation was restored, Swart replaced Van Daalen as governor, and such sharp measures were no longer needed. Christoffel ging heen en de colonne kwam onder Van der Vierk — Christoffel departed and the colonne came under Van der Vierk; it gradually assumed the character of an ordinary maréchaussée-divisie, but ondanks de verdwijning der roode halsdoeken wekte zij nog lang bijzondere vrees (despite the disappearance of the red neckerchiefs it long aroused special fear). The Colonne Matjan is the colonial-Atjeh symbol of uiterste gestrengheid.
Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
Christoffel was a Dutch marechaussée officer who, about fifteen years before Broersma’s visit — that is, around 1908 — was sent with his marechaussées into the hill-country of Keureuto in the onderafdeeling Lho Soekon to suppress the resistance that had flared up there. He established a bivouac at Panon Labeuë and from there broke the resistance. He was called apitan rimoeeng — the tiger-captain — ‘omdat zijn greep bloedig was’ — because his grip was bloody.
The Keureuto Expedition
The hill-country of Keureuto was difficult to reach, because the resistance ‘zich uit de paja-Tjitjem telkens terugtrok naar de heuvels’ — repeatedly withdrew from the Paja Tjitjem into the hills. The great swamp of Paja Tjitjem in the south-eastern half of the onderafdeeling was the refuge of the insurgents; the hills of the north-western half were their fastness. Christoffel’s bivouac at Panon Labeuë commanded the approaches to both, and his marechaussées broke the resistance from there. The memory of the suffering of those years is still fresh in such a region as Keureuto, Broersma writes; and when geestelijke parasieten — spiritual parasites — misuse the doctrine of the holy war to keep minds bitter, double vigilance is required, a vigilance that is not ostentatious. And in such regions the presence of administrative officials with Atjeh-experience and knowledge of the language is highly to be valued.
Significance
Christoffel is one of the last of the marechaussée-captains of the Atjehnese hill-country, and his nickname apitan rimoeeng — tiger-captain — places him in the same series as the ‘tijger van Atjeh’ Van Daalen himself. The expedition of about 1908 is one of the last significant military actions of the post-pacification period, undertaken in a region whose geography — the great swamp and the hills — gave the insurgents a refuge from which only the marechaussée could dislodge them.
In the Maréchaussée Jubileum-nummer (1930)
The Overzicht van Onderscheidingen printed in the 1930 jubilee number of Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië records under 1904 the award to Onderluit. Mar. H. Christoffel, Alg. Stb. No. 22174 of the knight’s cross of the Militaire Willems-Orde 3rd class. A portrait notice in the same issue styles him Kapitein H. Christoffel, “als onderluitenant der Maréchaussée in 1904 onderscheiden met het ridderkruis der M. W. O. derde-klasse.”
He was one of the very few onderluitenants to receive that class: the editors noted that the 3rd class had in total been granted to only eleven members of the corps — five officers, one onderluitenant, four sergeants and one soldier, the last being the well-known Nussy.
Colonel L. A. Snell, interviewed in the same issue, recalled him among the old vuurvreters as “den onverzettelijken Christoffel” — the unyielding Christoffel.
Account from Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf (1925)
Christoffel was a captain of the Marechaussee, nicknamed kapitan rimoeëng (tiger-captain) because his grip was bloody, active in the hill country of Keureutoe and Paja Tjitjem area.
Pacification around 1908-1910
When about 15 years before 1923 resistance flared in hill country 100-300m forming extent toward gebergte Rödjö Boekit, difficult to reach because withdrew from Paja Tjitjem to hills, Christoffel with his maréchaussées was sent, who occupied bivouac at Panton Labeuë and from there subdued resistance.
Memories of suffered sorrow in region Keureutoe still fresh at time of Broersma visit; spiritual parasites misuse doctrine of holy war to keep moods bitter, requiring vigilance not conspicuous, presence bestuursambtenaren with Atjeh experience and language knowledge highly valued.
See Also
- 1908
- Aceh War
- Apitan rimoeeng
- Christoffel’s expedition to Keureuto (c. 1908)
- Colonne Matjan
- Datoek
- G. C. E. van Daalen
- Van Daalen
- Swart
- Keureuto
- Keureutoe
- Korps Marechaussee van Atjeh en Onderhorigen
- Lho Soekon
- Marechaussée in Atjeh
- Musket
- Oost-Indisch Journael
- Paja Tjitjem
- Panon Labeuë
- Panton Leubeuë
- Scheepens
- Tjimahi
- Van der Vlerk
- Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
- Overzicht van Onderscheidingen toegekend aan het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden (1890-1930)
- Het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh (Jubileum-nummer 1930)
- C. A. Snell
- Nussy
- Militaire Willemsorde
- Panton Labeue
- Marechaussee
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Bloodily suppressed the fierce and embittered struggle in the Lho’Soekon area in 1910.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 87.
Source
Oost-Indisch Journael: Palaver om de tafel met het gat, by Merac, Toekan-Serie no. 2, ed. G. L. Tichelman (Haarlem: De Gulden Pers, 1947), the chapter on den zieleherder and the chapter Jagerslatijn. Atjeh, door H.C. Zentgraff. Gedrukt bij Drukkerij “De Unie”, 1938, Batavia. Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapter VIII, ‘Lho Soekon, licht en donker’, p. 55.
Het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh: De Atjehsche Garde, 1890 - 2 April 1930 (“The Corps of Maréchaussée in Atjeh: The Atjehnese Guard”), Extra Jubileum-nummer of Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië issued for the fortieth anniversary of the corps (1930), pp. 1-16. Offprint DLP-143, Bibliotheek KITLV, accession 621 116 794. Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf, by Dr. R. Broersma, Gebrs. Cohen, Utrecht, 1925, p. 50.
Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 87.