1939

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tagsyear, publication, atjeh, colonial, 1939, pre-war, literatuur-overzicht, dutch, indonesian, timeline, aceh, 20th-century, medicine
aliasesthe year 1939, anno 1939, 1939 AD, 1939 (year), Year 1939

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1939 was the year covered by H. van Meurs’s fourth annual Literatuur‑Overzicht of the Koninklijk Instituut, and also the year in which the Indisch Staatsblad published the regulation Regeling op den Staat van Oorlog (War State Regulation) No. 1939/582, later brought into force on 10 May 1940 as part of the legal framework for the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army during the looming conflict of World II. The dual record of scholarly output on Atjeh and colonial military legislation makes 1939 a pivotal snapshot of the last full year of Dutch colonial scholarly and administrative activity before the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands Indies in 1942.

Atjeh‑focused publications of 1939

The Atjeh‑focused publications recorded by Van Meurs in the Sumatra chapter (Hoofdstuk III, Nos. 548–658) and the Sumatra Addenda (Nos. 1056–1062) include:

The Indisch Staatsblad of 1939 issued the Regeling op den Staat van Oorlog (War State Regulation) No. 1939/582. The regulation outlined mobilisation procedures, command hierarchy, and emergency powers for the Koninklijk Nederlandsch-Indisch Leger in anticipation of hostilities in the East Indies. Although the statute remained dormant in 1939, it was activated on 10 May 1940, becoming a cornerstone of Dutch defensive policy during the subsequent Japanese invasion of the Netherlands Indies that began in 1942.

The death of the last pretender Sultan

7 February 1939 – the date recorded in Doorman’s article (No. 563) – marked the death of the ex‑pretender Sultan Toeanangkoe Mohammad Dawat at Meester‑Cornelis (now Jatinegara, a suburb of Batavia). After thirty‑two years of exile since 1907, his passing signalled the terminus ad quem of the line of Atjehnese pretender‑sultans in the colonial period and closed a chapter of the colonial‑period Atjehnese sultanate.

The third centenary of the Atjeh martyrs

1938 – the year immediately preceding the survey year – saw the derde eeuwfeest (third centenary) of the martelaren van Atjeh (martyrs of Atjeh). The commemoration, recorded by Luc. van der Linden, O. Carm. in Het Missiewerk (Nos. 581, 1059), placed the Catholic missionary martyrology of Atjeh in the public eye of Dutch Catholic readers during the last full pre‑war year.

Pre‑war context

1939 was the final full year of peace before the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands Indies of 1942. The scholarly activity documented in Van Meurs’s survey – retrospective military‑historical writing on the Atjeh‑oorlog, editions of Atjehsch vernacular texts, ethnographic surveys, antiquarian notes, and martyrological commemorations – represented the output of a colonial scholarly establishment that would be dispersed by the Japanese occupation and later superseded by the Indonesian revolution. Simultaneously, the issuance of the War State Regulation reflected the colonial administration’s anticipation of conflict, a foresight that would become operative in 1940 and crucial during the 1942 invasion.

Significance

For AcehWiki, 1939 is significant on two interlocking fronts. First, it is the year covered by Van Meurs’s fourth annual Literatuur‑Overzicht, the principal bibliographic record of pre‑war scholarship on Atjeh, encompassing military, ethnographic, literary, antiquarian, and missionary studies. Second, the year marks the publication of the War State Regulation in the Indisch Staatsblad, a legal instrument that would shape Dutch defensive strategy in the East Indies during World II. Together, these strands illustrate the culmination of Dutch colonial scholarly and administrative activity just before the upheavals of the early 1940s.

Account in du Croo’s Generaal Swart (1943)

In 1939 T. Radja Tampo’ was still wandering in the marshes of Seuneu’am and Tripa as “a legendary figure, holy in the eyes of the population”, never betrayed by anyone. Du Croo took the years 1918–1939 as proof that Snouck Hurgronje’s judgement of Swart had been mistaken.

Submission of the Groot-Atjeh eye survey (25 October 1939)

The report of Dr. C. E. Gomperts on his eye survey of Groot-Atjeh was received by the editors of the Geneeskundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indië on 25 October 1939, as recorded in the footnote to its opening page. It appeared in print the following year.

See Also

Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu

May: Jongejans dates final manuscript ”s Gravenhage, Mei 1939’.

Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 21.

Source

Literatuur-Overzicht over het jaar 1939 van de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde en Geschiedenis van Nederlandsch-Indië, door H. van Meurs (‘s‑Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff, 1940), Hoofdstuk III (Sumatra en naburig gebied, Nos. 548–658) en Addenda (Nos. 1056–1062).

De geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Korps Mariniers van 1665‑1945, OCR text, pp. 436‑442.

Generaal Swart, Pacificator van Atjeh (“General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh”), by M. H. du Croo, Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with the collaboration of H. J. Schmidt, Titular Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with a foreword by His Excellency Lieutenant-General K.N.I.L. (retired) G. K. Dijkstra (Maastricht: N.V. Leiter-Nypels, 1943), passim.

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. 21.

Oriënteerend oogheelkundig onderzoek bij de Atjehsche bevolking van Groot-Atjeh gedurende 1937 (“Orienting Ophthalmological Survey among the Atjehnese Population of Groot-Atjeh during 1937”), by Dr. C. E. Gomperts, offprint from the Geneeskundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indië, Afl. 19, Deel 80 (1940), pp. 1191-1238 (Batavia-Centrum: G. Kolff & Co.). Received by the editors 25 October 1939. Offprint DLP-157, Bibliotheek KITLV.

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