Dutch Ship Sunk in 1942 Remains a Political Issue

German survivors created a Nazi republic on the Indian Ocean island

The S.S. Van Imhoff (Tropenmuseum, part of the National Museum of World Cultures, CC BY-SA 3.0)

International disputes don’t need a well-known cause; the source may be little publicized or remembered. Such is the case when the S.S. Van Imhoff sank in the Indian Ocean in January 1942. Although a Japanese warplane attacked the Dutch freighter, hundreds of German citizens died. What happened remains an issue — but not between the two former Axis allies or Japan and the Netherlands. Instead, the debate is between the Dutch and the Germans.

When Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, what is now Indonesia was the Dutch East Indies, a Dutch colony for more than a century. Although the Netherlands fell in four days, it remained in control of the colony. As a result, the colonial government quickly interned some 2,800 men over age 19 believed to be German nationals. About 900 were seamen from merchant ships seized by the Dutch, according to historian Tom Womack. Some civilians openly supported the Nazi regime, but most were missionaries, ministers, professionals, business owners, and the like.

In July 1940, the Dutch transferred them to a camp in northern Sumatra. In retaliation, the Germans imprisoned high-profile Dutch citizens in the Netherlands. Interned German women and children…