ABSTRACT
During the 1960s, television allowed historian Loe de Jong to shape a collective memory of the Dutch as heroes who suffered German barbarism during the Occupation. Thus, decolonization was unremembered. In 1969, a VARA television interview with veteran Joop Hueting caused a public outcry by detailing Dutch atrocities during decolonization. The official inquiry that followed, and the decision to publish a collection of official documents, only furthered the process of unremembering. Hueting's interview inspired some veterans to pen realistic novels of the conflict, as well as the first academic study of Dutch mass violence. The role of the press was ambiguous. Historians failed to engage with the subject, but the public television broadcaster VPRO aired a serious documentary about decolonization in 1976.
