J. C. Tiggelman was a Dutch civil administrator (controleur van het Binnenlands Bestuur) stationed at Seulimeum in the sagi der XXII moekims of Groot-Atjeh, whose murder on the night of 23–24 February 24 February 1942 — the first Dutch official killing of the F. beweging sabotage wave — marked the opening of organised Atjehnese resistance to Dutch rule on the eve of the Japanese invasion of March 1942. In the Dutch staff history’s account (Deel VI, Hoofdstuk V), Tiggelman’s murder is the terminus a quo of the pre-invasion Atjeh rising and is paired with the murder of Von Sperling the following morning as the defining acts of the first action period of the F. beweging.
The murder of 23/24 February 1942
The first acts of sabotage — telegraph lines cut at a single point near Seulimeum — had occurred on the night of 19–20 February 20 February 1942 and were followed by further cuttings and a blocked bridge on 21–22 February 22 February 1942. The sabotage wave reached its height on the night of 23 to 24 February: between Kotaradja and Seulimeum the railway track was torn up at two points, points were disabled, a steam roller was driven across the road, and the workshop of the Atjeh state railways was looted. Three bridges were blocked, trees were felled across the road at numerous points, and telephone and telegraph lines were cut. The telephone link to the Westkust was cut at four points.
It was during this peak night that the attack on Tiggelman took place. The staff history records the circumstances: in Seulimeum itself, the controleur, Mr J. C. Tiggelman, was lured outside at night (23/24 February) by the raising of an alarm and murdered in atrocious fashion, while the Atjehnese manager of the post office made off with the cash and disappeared. The killing — a luring-out by false alarm followed by an atrocious murder — was accompanied by the looting of the post office by its own Atjehnese manager, suggesting prior coordination between the F-beweging plotters and the local indigenous officials of the Dutch administration.
Significance
Tiggelman’s murder is, in the staff history’s narrative, the moment at which the F. beweging’s sabotage shifted from nuisance to open revolt. The compiler’s pairing of the murder with the looting of the post office by its own Atjehnese manager signals that the rising had penetrated the indigenous lower staff of the Dutch civil administration — a fact that the staff history treats as the decisive political indicator of the colonial state’s loss of control. The murder also precipitated Colonel Gosenson’s return from Takengon to Kotaradja on 23 February 23 February 1942 and his decision to call in Palmer van den Broek’s ten-brigade Maréchaussee column for the suppression of the Seulimeumse — the operational decision that, three weeks later, would hollow out the central-Atjeh guerrilla and allow the Japanese landings of 12 March 12 March to face a divided Dutch defence.
See Also
- Nederlands-Indië contra Japan
- murder of Tiggelman at Seulimeum
- murder of Von Sperling
- F-beweging
- Seulimeum
- Atjehsche Staatsspoorwegen
- Seulimeum-colonne
- G. F. V. Gosenson
- Major W. F. Palmer van den Broek
- 1942
Source
Nederlands-Indië contra Japan, Deel VI: De strijd op Ambon, Timor en Sumatra, bewerkt door C. van den Hoogenband en L. Schotborgh (‘s-Gravenhage: Staatsdrukkerij- en Uitgeverijbedrijf, 1959), Hoofdstuk V (“De strijd in Noord-Sumatra (Atjeh)”), p. 124.
J. C. Tiggelman was a Dutch civil administrator (controleur van het Binnenlands Bestuur) stationed at Seulimeum in the sagi der XXII moekims of Groot-Atjeh, whose murder on the night of 23–24 February 24 February 1942 — the first Dutch official killing of the F. beweging sabotage wave — marked the opening of organised Atjehnese resistance to Dutch rule on the eve of the Japanese invasion of March 1942. In the Dutch staff history’s account (Deel VI, Hoofdstuk V), Tiggelman’s murder is the terminus a quo of the pre-invasion Atjeh rising and is paired with the murder of Von Sperling the following morning as the defining acts of the first action period of the F. beweging.
The murder of 23/24 February 1942
The first acts of sabotage — telegraph lines cut at a single point near Seulimeum — had occurred on the night of 19–20 February 20 February 1942 and were followed by further cuttings and a blocked bridge on 21–22 February 22 February 1942. The sabotage wave reached its height on the night of 23 to 24 February: between Kotaradja and Seulimeum the railway track was torn up at two points, points were disabled, a steam roller was driven across the road, and the workshop of the Atjeh state railways was looted. Three bridges were blocked, trees were felled across the road at numerous points, and telephone and telegraph lines were cut. The telephone link to the Westkust was cut at four points.
It was during this peak night that the attack on Tiggelman took place. The staff history records the circumstances: in Seulimeum itself, the controleur, Mr J. C. Tiggelman, was lured outside at night (23/24 February) by the raising of an alarm and murdered in atrocious fashion, while the Atjehnese manager of the post office made off with the cash and disappeared. The killing — a luring-out by false alarm followed by an atrocious murder — was accompanied by the looting of the post office by its own Atjehnese manager, suggesting prior coordination between the F-beweging plotters and the local indigenous officials of the Dutch administration.
Significance
Tiggelman’s murder is, in the staff history’s narrative, the moment at which the F. beweging’s sabotage shifted from nuisance to open revolt. The compiler’s pairing of the murder with the looting of the post office by its own Atjehnese manager signals that the rising had penetrated the indigenous lower staff of the Dutch civil administration — a fact that the staff history treats as the decisive political indicator of the colonial state’s loss of control. The murder also precipitated Colonel Gosenson’s return from Takengon to Kotaradja on 23 February 23 February 1942 and his decision to call in Palmer van den Broek’s ten-brigade Maréchaussee column for the suppression of the Seulimeumse — the operational decision that, three weeks later, would hollow out the central-Atjeh guerrilla and allow the Japanese landings of 12 March 12 March to face a divided Dutch defence.
See Also
- Nederlands-Indië contra Japan
- murder of Tiggelman at Seulimeum
- murder of Von Sperling
- F-beweging
- Seulimeum
- Atjehsche Staatsspoorwegen
- Seulimeum-colonne
- G. F. V. Gosenson
- Major W. F. Palmer van den Broek
- 1942
Source
Nederlands-Indië contra Japan, Deel VI: De strijd op Ambon, Timor en Sumatra, bewerkt door C. van den Hoogenband en L. Schotborgh (‘s-Gravenhage: Staatsdrukkerij- en Uitgeverijbedrijf, 1959), Hoofdstuk V (“De strijd in Noord-Sumatra (Atjeh)”), p. 124.