Information About Rudolf (Teddy) Grivel

Memories

Memories are based on documents, family lore or personal experiences. They give more information about a person, but are not necessarilly complete or correct.

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My dad and mom never spoke much about their past, probably because of the traumatic experiences they had in the 40s. About my father I know that was was a prisoner of war, in a prison in Poland, and was liberated by the Russians. I have no idea what he did (right, or maybe wrong things?) after that in Indonesia. I also don’t know anything about him with regard to the period before 1940.

My father was born in Blora, Java, on December 30, 1917. He lived, among other places, in Blora, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Jakarta (back then called Batavia). He went to the HBS (high school) in Surabaya and later it beame clear that my mother’s borther (uncle Cherrie) was in his class. He finished the HBS in Batavia. In 1936 the family went back to Holland when my grandfather retired.

My father went the the KMA (the Dutch military academy) in Breda to train for officer in the KNIL (the Dutch army of the Dutch East Indies). Officers, including those in training, were called up for transport in 1942 during the occupation by Nazi-Germany. My father went to Stanislau, at the time occupied East-Poland, later part of the Soviet Union and now the Ukraine. As the Soviet army approached, the prisoners were transported to Germany, in the Berlin area, where they were eventually liberated by the Russians.

Back in Holland my father probably finished his KNIL training before going to Dutch East Indies. This was no longer the country he remembered: the kalis (streams) red from blood and filled with bodies.

He was placed, among other locations, in Purwokerto. In Surabaya my parents met eachother and they got married on April 24, 1947. Because he was in the military in war time, my father was transfered a lot, including to Malang, where my brother Taco was born, and Tagal (North-Java).

After the offical transfer of power in the fall of 1949 the Dutch military had to help build up the Indonesian army. In June 1950 my parents and Taco left Semarang to go to Holland. My father then switched from the KNIL to the regular Dutch army.

My parents lived with my grandparents and uncle Ab for nine months in The Hague before moving to Utrecht. My father was also stationed in Nunspeet, Grave, Apeldoor, and several times in Utrecht, which was also his last station. He retired at the age of 55.