Leuwigajah Memorial Cemetery (Dutch: Ereveld Leuwigajah; Indonesian: Makam Kehormatan Leuwigajah) is a war cemetery just outside of Cimahi, West Java, in Indonesia.[1]
| Leuwigajah Memorial Cemetery | |
|---|---|
 Leuwigajah Memorial Cemetery | |
 | |
| Details | |
| Location | |
| Country | Indonesia |
| Coordinates | 6°54′20″S 107°31′45″E / 6.90559°S 107.52922°E |
| Type | War cemetery |
| Owned by | Netherlands War Graves Foundation |
| No. of graves | 5,200 |
Description
editThe memorial cemetery is located on a formerly vacant lot behind the municipal cemetery. During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, this site was used by the Imperial Japanese military to bury Dutch war dead and prisoners from nearby internment camps. Only after the war was the lot formally turned into a cemetery, which resulted in many reburials. It was not until 20 December 1949 that the Dutch government designated this location as a memorial cemetery.[2]
Monument
editAt the rear of the cemetery stands a flagpole in a small bed, behind which visitors can descend to a small courtyard where a memorial stone has been placed in memory of those who died aboard Japanese hell ships in the years 1942–1945. A memorial plaque was placed here on 21 September 1984. It is still commemorated annually on 18 September that the cargo steamer Jun'yō Maru was torpedoed near Bengkulu on Sumatra's west coast in 1944. The ship carried 2,300 Allied prisoners of war and 4,200 Javanese forced laborers, resulting in the loss of 5,600 lives.[3]
Size
editLeuwigajah Memorial Cemetery is one of the largest of its kind in Indonesia and contains the largest amount of graves in any property managed by the Netherlands War Graves Foundation. There are more than 5,000 graves belonging to Dutch nationals, many of whom had served in the former Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (Dutch: Koninklijk Nederlandsch-Indisch Leger, KNIL) and the Royal Netherlands Army. In the 1960s, a large number of war victims were reburied here when ten memorial cemeteries across Indonesia were closed; one in Muntok in 1960, Padang in 1962, Tarakan in 1964, Medan in 1966, and those in Palembang and Balikpapan in 1967. The servicemen who were buried in the remaining four cemeteries that were shuttered now rest in Ancol Memorial Cemetery. After all the reburials, the cemetery contains a total of 5,200 graves.[2]
References
edit- ^ Bijsmans, A.C.; Bots-Estourgie, E.H.M.; Neisingh, C.N.J., eds. (2007). "De Oorlogsgravenstichting in 2007". Oorlogsgravenstichting jaarbericht (in Dutch). Netherlands War Graves Foundation. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
- ^ a b "Cimahi, Ereveld Leuwigajah". Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl (in Dutch). Netherlands War Graves Foundation. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
- ^ Thamrin, Mahandis Yoanata (17 May 2019). "Kota Cimahi Simpan Monumen Junyo Maru, Petaka Laut Perang Dunia Kedua". Nationalgeographic.grid.id (in Indonesian). National Geographic Indonesia. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
External links
edit
- (in Dutch) Leuwigajah Memorial Cemetery on the website of the Netherlands War Graves Foundation (OGS)
- (in Dutch) OGS leaflet about Leuwigajah Memorial Cemetery
- (in English) OGS brochure about Dutch war graves in Southeast Asia