Discovering Diversity An integrative approach to the history of migrants Educational Material: Case Study “This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the Anna Lindh Foundation. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of EUROCLIO and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the Anna Lindh Foundation” “It could hardly fit better: foreign nurses who speak the language.” Shortly after World War II Dutch hospitals were faced with a shortage of nursing personnel. In a broadcast speech the Minister of Social Affairs, addressed young Dutch women and urged them to go into nursing. Some lines from his speech: •Dear listeners: the situation is so alarming that I want to discuss this on the radio. •It is about the shortage of female workers in general and more specifically in the field of nursing. This could have disastrous consequences for the post-war situation. •Young girls are not as willing to do this work as they used to be. We see this happening also with domestic help, laundry girls, typists and the girls who work in workshops and factories. •Nursing is a profession, but it is also a calling and a duty: to provide help to a suffering fellow human being. I urgently call upon the nurses to come back. This is an emergency situation. Later you will read more about the speech of the Minister. “This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the Anna Lindh Foundation. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of EUROCLIO and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the Anna Lindh Foundation” Context “This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the Anna Lindh Foundation. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of EUROCLIO and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the Anna Lindh Foundation” After the Second World War many hospitals in Europe suffered from a shortage of nurses because European women became more selective about their job choices. For that reason the Netherlands and Britain recruited young women from their colonies in the West Indies. In the 1950s several hundred young women left the Dutch colony Suriname to start a nursing training in the Netherlands. The reasons for leaving varied. There was the focus on the colonial motherland and the conviction that in order to get a good education one should be in the Netherlands. But also the urge for change was an important factor. The colonial situation offered them an opportunity to move to another world. After obtaining their diploma most of them did not return to Suriname. Birthday party of the Jenny Caupain (sitting behind the woman that holds the record cover of the Cuban band La Sonora Matancera) on 25th of May 1958. The year before she and her compatriots started their nursing training in the Bergweg hospital in Rotterdam. “This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the Anna Lindh Foundation. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of EUROCLIO and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the Anna Lindh Foundation” Indonesia, Dutch Antilles and Suriname in the Dutch Empire Territories administered by the Dutch East India Company. Territories administered by the Dutch West India Company. Territories occupied later, during the 19th century. “This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the Anna Lindh Foundation. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of EUROCLIO and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of theFor Anna LindhmoreFoundation” information click here What was Suriname like in the 1950s? “This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the Anna Lindh Foundation. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of EUROCLIO and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the Anna Lindh Foundation” What was Suriname like in the 1950s? The first attempt to settle a colony in Suriname was made by the British Lord Willoughby, the governor of Barbados. However his settlement was invaded by Dutch ships led by Abraham Crijnssen in 1667. In the seventeenth century Suriname became a Dutch colony. Slavery in Suriname started with the English and continued when the Dutch took over Suriname. The slaves had to work at plantations with sugar, coffee, cocoa and cotton, which was exported for the Amsterdam market. The Dutch abolished slavery only in 1863; although the British had already abolished it during their short rule from 1799 and 1816. In 1954 Suriname gained self-government, and became an Overseas Territory. The Netherlands kept control of defence and foreign affairs until the country became independent in 1975. It had 200.000 inhabitants in the 1950s, people with different backgrounds: the (native) Indians, black people (Creoles), taken as slaves out of Africa, Hindustanis (contract labourers from India), Chinese and Javanese from the Dutch East Indies, Jews, Dutchmen and many other nationalities. All groups had their own religions (Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus) and languages. But everyone in Suriname still speaks Dutch, which remained the official language after 1975. The natural resources are rubber, gold and bauxite. From the latter, aluminium is made which is important for the airplane industry. Surinamese drive on the left side of the road, a remnant from the time the British ruled Suriname. In 2010 Suriname had 486.618 inhabitants. “This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the Anna Lindh Foundation. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of EUROCLIO and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the Anna Lindh Foundation” The text of the National Anthem of Suriname The part in Sranan Tongo is written by Trefossa in the 1950s. “This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the Anna Lindh Foundation. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of EUROCLIO and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the Anna Lindh Foundation” The former Dutch East Indies (present Indonesia) until 1949 Bali “This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the Anna Lindh Foundation. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of EUROCLIO and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the Anna Lindh Foundation” Living in colonial Suriname In the colonial society of Suriname difference in skin colour and ethnic origin marked daily life. Some newcomers-nurses had experienced themselves that when going for a certain job skin colour made the difference. It was difficult to hold an important position, higher in the hierarchy. Hertha Gullit remembers that her father was only paid his normal salary as a teacher during his first years as Inspector of education – and that he did not think of complaining to his superiors about this. The experience of Hertha Gullit's father was typical of many colonial societies, such as British India, French Indochina or Portuguese East Africa. “This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the Anna Lindh Foundation. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of EUROCLIO and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the Anna Lindh Foundation” What were The Netherlands like in the 1950s After the Second World War the Netherlands returned politically and socially to the pre-war situation. The war time feeling of unity was lost and the old divisions returned. The three „pillars‟, the Protestants, the Catholics and the Socialists, regained their fixed positions in society, each living their lives within their own groups: The integrative forces that were there during the war disappeared. The old political coalitions governed again like before. Like before the war there was a strict morality in the social order. It was an homogeneous „white‟ society with a tradition of tolerance. The family was the heart of daily life. Most married women returned to house work. The country embarked on reconstruction. The burst of economic energy led to prosperity, and to a shortage in labour in factories, households and hospitals. There was a severe housing shortage. Till 1952 food, soap, clothes and shoes were rationed. The labour shortage was especially acute in the poorer paid jobs. Therefore the Dutch government made a moral appeal to women to serve the country as nurses. “This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the Anna Lindh Foundation. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of EUROCLIO and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the Anna Lindh Foundation” Migration from Indonesia to the Netherlands and vice versa (1946- 1970) Peak 1, 1946: shortly after the war, many Dutch nationals in Indonesia wanted to return to the Netherlands. But also many people from the Netherlands left before 1950 to Indonesia. Peak 2: in 1950, after the year Indonesia became independent, many Dutch nationals decided to leave. Peak 3: 1958: In December 1957 Soekarno decided that all Dutch nationals must leave the country. They returned home in the first months of 1958. Peak“This4: document1962: Transfer has been producedof New with theGuinea financial toassistanceIndonesia of the Anna. Lindh Foundation. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of EUROCLIO and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the Anna Lindh Foundation” Migration by persons of Surinamese descent (1950-2010) In the 1950s the level of migration from Suriname to the Netherlands was still low. Only about a thousand people (almost equal numbers for men and women) a year. In this period only a few thousand people of Surinamese descent lived in the Netherlands.