H. J. de Graaf
H. J. de Graaf | |
---|---|
Born | Hermanus Johannes de Graaf 2 December 1899 Rotterdam, The Netherlands |
Died | 24 August 1984 | (aged 84)
Alma mater | Leiden University |
Occupations |
|
Known for | works on Javanese history |
Spouse | Carolina Johanna Mekkink (m. 1929) |
Children | 4 |
Hermanus Johannes de Graaf (2 December 1899 – 24 August 1984) was a Dutch historian specialising in the history of Java, Indonesia, the world's most populous island. Trained as historian at Leiden University, he moved to Batavia (today's Jakarta) to take a government job, and later became a teacher for various schools in Indonesia. At the same time, he pursued his interest in the history of Indonesia and published books and articles on the topic. After a brief assignment at the University of Indonesia, he returned to the Netherlands. He taught at various institutions, including Leiden, until 1967 and continued to publish scholarly works, even after his retirement. He suffered a serious stroke in 1982 and died two years later.
His works covered the history of Indonesia in general, with emphasis on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Java. His works extensively consulted both European and Indonesian sources, one of the first trained historians to do so. Historian M. C. Ricklefs called him the "father of the study of Javanese history", while Javanist Theodoor Gautier Thomas Pigeaud said his works formed "a substantial contribution to the study of the national history of Indonesia."
Biography
Early life
De Graaf was born on 2 December 1899 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where he attended school. In 1919, he went to Leiden University to study history. The historian and orientalist Johan Huizinga was among his professors there. In 1926 he took up a government job in Dutch East Indies (today's Indonesia). While he sailed to Batavia (today's Jakarta), he read about Indonesian history, sparking his interest for the first time. He was posted at Surabaya to become a history teacher in a Hogere Burgerschool (HBS, high school) for a year. Subsequently, he moved to Batavia, first to work at the city's museum library, and then at the Inspectorate of Middle Schools. While at Batavia he met the Javanese professor Poerbatjaraka, who then gave him weekly lessons in Javanese language and culture. He began to pursue his scholarly interest while still having the Inspectorate job. His first scholarly article was published in 1929. In the same year he married a teacher, Carolinia Johanna Mekkink.[1]
Academic career in Indonesia
In 1931 de Graaf left government service and became a schoolmaster in
In 1935, he returned to the Indies and resumed teaching in Surakarta. He took his Javanese students to visit historical sites and Islamic holy sites throughout Java, despite the school being a Protestant school. During school vacations he continued his research in Batavia, publishing articles on the Trunajaya rebellion and the fall of Mataram. He also wrote for the Chinese Geschiedenis in 1941. Fear about the work's unflattering description of the Japanese led its publisher to largely destroy it in 1942 as the Japanese took over the Indies as part of World War II.[3]
He was then interned and spent the war in several camps and befriended the linguist C. C. Berg. De Graaf's wife was interned separately in a women's camp, and in 1944 their nine-year-old daughter Elisabeth Anna died in captivity.[4]
World War II was followed by the
This disillusionment, as well as his wife's safety concerns about teaching as a foreigner in Indonesia, and frustration over not being made a professor—he thought this was promised to him—led him to leave Indonesia for good in 1950.[6]
Career in the Netherlands
De Graaf left for the Netherlands in 1950, and in 1953 he became a
He continued to teach in various Dutch schools up to his retirement in 1967.
Retirement and death
In 1967 de Graaf retired from teaching but continued his scholarly pursuit. He regularly contributed to the magazine Tong Tong (later known as Moesson), writing about Indonesian history in a more casual style. He also published works on the
In May 1982 he attended the annual meeting of
Works
De Graaf's doctoral dissertation, on the murder of Captain François Tack in the Mataram court in 1686, was "a landmark in the study of Javanese history",[2] according to M. C. Ricklefs. While historians had studied the history of Java before him, his work combined both Javanese and European sources and made use of the historical method.[2]
His 1948 study The Crown of Majapahit corrected a misunderstanding among European historians of Java, who had previously thought that
During the 1950s and 1960s, among his other works, he wrote four important volumes on Javanese history between 1500—1700. The first one, published in 1956 was about the court of Mataram in 1648—54 as visited by Dutch envoys, and remains the most important source on that topic. The second one was about the reign of Sultan Agung (published 1958) and other two were about the reign of
In 1971, he edited and published
Because his works were mostly in Dutch, in 1976 Pigeaud published Islamic States in Java 1500–1700: Eight Dutch Books and Articles by Dr H.J. de Graaf, an English summary of what he considered de Graaf's eight most important works, including The First Islamic States of Java, works on the reigns of
Recognitions
In 1974, de Graaf was made an Honorary Member of the
Personal life
He was married in 1929 to Carolina Johanna Mekkink.[16] They had four children: Hendrik (b. 1931), Johannes (b. 1933), Elisabeth Anna (b. 1935) and Anna Elisabeth (b. 1948).[2] Elisabeth Anna died in 1944 in a Japanese World War II internment camp.[4] He was a devout Protestant and held conservative political views, which sometimes put him at odds with his Dutch academic colleagues.[1]
References
Citations
- ^ a b c Ricklefs 1985, p. 191.
- ^ a b c d Ricklefs 1985, p. 192.
- ^ Ricklefs 1985, pp. 192–193.
- ^ a b c Ricklefs 1985, p. 194.
- ^ Ricklefs 1985, pp. 194–195.
- ^ a b Ricklefs 1985, p. 196.
- ^ Ricklefs 1985, pp. 196–197.
- ^ a b Ricklefs 1985, p. 197.
- ^ Ricklefs 1985, pp. 197–199.
- ^ a b Ricklefs 1985, p. 200.
- ^ Ricklefs 1985, p. 195.
- ^ Ricklefs 1985, p. 198—199.
- ^ a b Ricklefs 1985, p. 199.
- ^ Pigeaud 1976, Table of contents.
- ^ Pigeaud 1976, Preface.
- ^ Ricklefs 1985, pp. 191–192.
Bibliography
- ISBN 90-247-1876-7.
- JSTOR 27863672.