The forbidden Nazi metaphor: Dutch soldiers’ reflections on role reversals from German occupation to imperial reconquest in Indonesia, 1945–1949

The so-called ‘forbidden metaphor’ – or ‘the inevitable comparison with the Nazis’ – has played a crucial role in the Dutch debate on atrocities committed during the Indonesian War of Independence. The suggestion of a role reversal from occupied to occupier and from victim to perpetrator often met with angry opposition in retrospective discussions on the war, particularly after a veteran exposed Dutch war crimes in 1969. But to what extent, and in what ways, did soldiers on the ground during the war in Indonesia actually compare themselves to the Germans? Drawing on extensive collections of ego-documents in two databases, this article explores the mental worlds of those Dutchmen who experienced this role reversal during what has been called ‘the long Second World War’ (1940–1949) for the Netherlands. A broader analysis of diaries suggests that Dutch troops were often well aware of acts such as torture, executions, and collective punishment in Indonesia. In addition, the soldiers’ comparisons with the German occupation of the Netherlands were more frequent than later public opposition to the analogy would suggest. However, the parallels they saw with the Nazis were not uniformly condemnatory. Rather than outright denouncing such methods, diarists often navigated a complex mix of condemnation and justification, as moral and practical considerations frequently clashed and benevolently formulated war aims remained misaligned with the violent methods used.