Demmenie — properly General (formerly Colonel) Demmenie — was a Dutch military officer who served as Governor of Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden in the period following the civil administration of Pruys van der Hoeven. He is named in the Atjeh-Album of 1896 as the officer who, despite his goede eigenschappen (good qualities), was niet de man om Koningroeck op te volgen in Atjeh (not the man to follow Kingroeck in Atjeh) — that is, was not the right successor to the civil governor Pruys van der Hoeven — and under whose governorship the concentratie-stelsel was officially introduced and krachtig optreden (forceful action) was made bijkans ondoenlijk (almost impossible).
The civil administration and its collapse
The Atjeh-Album records that, after the good results obtained by Generaal Van der Heyden in the late 1870s and early 1880s, the Moederland (the mother country) had formed the opinion that Atjeh was now voldoende onderworpen (sufficiently subjugated) to Dutch authority, and that it was noodig (necessary) to replace the military government with a civil administration. Pruys van der Hoeven was accordingly appointed Governor of Atjeh and Dependencies — and from that moment, the album records, begint de lijdensgeschiedenis van onze vestiging op Atjeh (begins the Passion of our establishment in Atjeh). The lijden (suffering) took on such proportions that a military governor had again to be sent to Atjeh — and that governor was Demmenie.
The concentratie-stelsel
The Atjeh-Album records that Demmenie’s governorship — like that of his successor Van Teijn — was conducted under the ordedienst (the official “order service” — the concentratie-stelsel in its institutional form), and that under this regime krachtig optreden was bijkans ondoenlijk (almost impossible). Neither Demmenie nor Van Teijn, met hun geconcentreerde linie (with their concentrated line), was able to bring the situation in Atjeh to the condition that the Netherlands and the Indies would have wished. The album’s characterisation of Demmenie’s governorship — met zijn goede eigenschappen (with his good qualities) but niet de man om Koningroeck op te volgen (not the man to follow Kingroeck) — is the album’s principal judgement on the military governors of the concentratie period.
The Lamgoet campaign
The Atjeh-Album records that Lamgoet — the former seat of Teungku di Tiro — had, during Demmenie’s governorship (and that of Van Teijn), den generaals Demmenie en Van Teijn zoo lastig (so troubled the generals Demmenie and Van Teijn). The album’s reference places Lamgoet as one of the principal centres of Atjehnese resistance during the concentratie period, and it identifies Demmenie and Van Teijn as the governors under whom the Dutch were unable to dislodge the resistance from Lamgoet. The dislodgement was finally achieved by Toekoe Oemar in 1893, under the governorship of Deykerhoff.
Significance
Demmenie’s significance in the documentary record of the Atjeh-oorlog is as the first of the military governors of the concentratie period — the governor under whom the ordedienst was officially introduced and under whom the Dutch were confined to the geconcentreerde linie. The Atjeh-Album of 1896’s judgement on Demmenie — a man of good qualities but not the right successor to the civil governor — is the album’s principal characterisation of the military governors of the concentratie period, and it identifies the ordedienst as the institutional form of the regime that the album holds responsible for the prolonged stalemate of the 1880s and early 1890s.
See Also
- Concentratie-stelsel (1884-1896)
- Geconcentreerde linie
- Pruys van der Hoeven
- Van Teijn
- K. van der Heyden
- Deykerhoff
- Lamgoet
- Teungku di Tiro
- Toekoe Oemar
- Groot-Atjeh
- Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Aceh War
- Atjeh-Album (Eigen Haard, 1896)
Source
Atjeh-Album van Eigen Haard, uitgave van de N.V. Het Tijdschrift “Eigen Haard”, Amsterdam, 1896, pp. 1, 10 (Nederland en Atjeh — Personen en Stelsels; Een Terugblik — Wat Reeds Verkregen Werd).