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Source: Noordhollands Dagblad
January 21, 2016 |
The other day I read an article in Dutch regional newspaper Noordhollands Dagblad. It was about plans to revive the old city center of Semarang. For those unaware of its whereabouts, Semarang is situated on the Indonesian island Java. It is the capital of the province Central Java. The city itself has over 1.5 million inhabitants. Today Greater Semarang is the sixth community of the country.
The city has a long history among others as a settlement of the Dutch East India Company, commonly abbreviated as the VOC, the
Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie. The old city still looks very European with a church in its center, wide boulevards and nice, spacious housing. Over the years this Dutch heritage deteriorated considerably. Lack of funds and maybe more important, a lack of interest to maintain these buildings erected by the former colonial rulers, caused the state in which it is now. If you add the humid, hot climate and the heavy traffic passing these buildings every day, the recipe for a disastrous development is there.
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| The Heerenstraat in the old center of Semarang |
However, there seems to be a change of mind in the city. According to The Jakarta Post the mayor of Semarang says he wants to renovate at least 105 buildings in the old center now called
Kota Lama. An equivalent amount of € 2,000,000 is said to be available for this project. Tourism supposedly is the stimulus. In any case it is an indirect homage to two Dutch architects viz. Thomas Karsten en K.P.C. de Bazel. The latter one also designed glassware for the Leerdam glass works, but that is different subject.
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Fragment of the 1917 city map of Semarang
Source: www.semarang.nl, Semarang Photo Archives
available under CC Licentie 3.0
Kota Lama, the old city center, is in the red rectangle |
My interest for this subject is caused by the knowledge that even today there are many people living here in the Netherlands who have been born in the former Dutch Indies. I also happen to have a collection of death notices of people born there (yes, ok, I agree it is a bit peculiar but in case you are interested it may be consulted
here). All together there are over 800 notices in my collection now. 8% of these people were born in Semarang. So my guess is that there are still many people here who may be interested in their own place of birth or in that of their parents. Therefore, I tried to find out the old street names used in pre war Semarang. Those names are no doubt part of their family history.
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Dutch street names in Kota Lama, the old Semarang city center
To enlarge click on the image.
Map ex Google |
Born in Semarang in the year indicated and since deceased mainly here in the Netherlands:
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Semarang - Belloni 1950
Semarang - Broekhuys 1923
Semarang - Cosse 1929
Semarang - de Boer 1924
Semarang - Dirkzwager 1924
Semarang - Elink Schuurman 1916
Semarang - Emmen 1926
Semarang - Haak ca1892
Semarang - Hartog 1930
Semarang - Jonkman 1923
Semarang - Jonkman 1925
Semarang - Kahle 1932
Semarang - Kerlen 1915
Semarang - Kerlen 1917
Semarang - Kerlen 1919
Semarang - Kerlen 1921
Semarang - Klerks ? 1891 [Wd]
Semarang - Kloppenburg 1917
Semarang - Köehl 1923
Semarang - Kollmann 1854
Semarang - Koster 1949
Semarang - Kouwenaar 1929
Semarang - Lie 1926
Semarang - Lincklaen Arriëns 1941
Semarang - Lind 1924
Semarang - Mac Gillavry 1931
Semarang - Middeldorp 1928
Semarang - Mual 1930
Semarang - Mulder 1919
Semarang - Nazloomian 1926
Semarang - Nota 1926
Semarang - Oei 1938
Semarang - Schilling 1926
Semarang - Schuit 1932
Semarang - Sillevis Smitt 1929
Semarang - Smit 1922
Semarang - Soeters 1926
Semarang - Steffin 1941
Semarang - Tan 1929
Semarang - Tholen 1928
Semarang - van Barthold 1926
Semarang - van de Graaf 1925
Semarang - van der Fange 1927
Semarang - van der Knoop 1917
Semarang - van der Werf 1937
Semarang - van Eldijk 1950
Semarang - van Garderen 1934
Semarang - van Lookeren Campagne 1929
Semarang - van Lookeren Campagne 1931
Semarang - van Marken 1926
Semarang - van Pernis 1929
Semarang - van Rossum 1933
Semarang - van Vliet 1931
Semarang - von Meyenfeldt 1917
Semarang - Wesly 1935
Semarang - Westbroek 1943
Semarang - Westphal 1938
Semarang - Woerdeman 1952
Semarang - Worst 1940
Semarang - Zecha 1929
Semarang - Zeelig 1950
In case you are interested in a particular death notice, please post a comment below or send me an email: patmiebies at gmail dot com.
