Although I have not yet found any proof, but given the history of the whole Nobbe family it is likely that Albert Nobbe (my great-grandfather) enlisted in the army and at some point, left for the Dutch East Indies.

He married at the age of 40 (which is quite late for that time) on 15.09.1881 in Ambarawa (Semarang) with the Christian native woman Charlotte Wilhelmina Louisa Louis (source: roosjeroos.nl)

From this marriage 9 children were born:

1. 1. Carolina Louisa Nobbe born on 10.08.1869 in Palimana, date of death unknown
   2. Hillegina Wilhelmina born on  01.06.1871 in Palimana Cheribon, died on in 14.04.1949 Blitar
   3. Albertus Nobbe born on 17.03.1874 Madjalengka died on 20.10.1944 in Madioen
   4. Jan Nicolaas Nobbe born on03.11.1878 Ambarawa died on 03.02.1956 in Den Haag
   5. Evert Nobbe born on 23.02.1881 in Semarang, died on 29.01.1975 in  Zwijndrecht 
   6. Johanna Nobbe born on 15.02.1883 in Oenarang, died on 01.04.1961 in Utrecht
   7. Volkert Nobbe born on  07.09.1885 in Semarang, died on 19.09.1903 in Semarang
   8. Hendrik Nobbe born on 02.03.1887 in Semarang, died on 1949 in Solo
   9. Albert Nobbe born on 11.08.1889 in Semarang, died on12.1959 in Haaks bergen

Of at least 3 sons, the military logbook number and affiliation with the KNIL have been found. So, it was a long line of KNIL soldiers starting with my great-grandfather Albert.

My grandfather Evert Nobbe was accepted as a ten-year-old boy, according to the logbook at the War Department, on 21 January 1891, "at the corps pupil, pursuant to order of the War Department dated 31 December 1890, I section Nr. 8 being from Semarang". He is 1.61 m tall, has an oval face, brown eyes, black hair, pointed chin, high forehead and a birthmark on the chest. According to the calculation, he has 50% Dutch and 50% native blood, called an Indo European or Indo. On 6 October 1897, by then 16 years old, he is enlisted in the army for 6 years. He receives a bonus of 25 guilders for this and is placed as a fusilier with the substitute cadet in Batavia. See #2185 logbook corps pupils

Militairy logbook #47666 Evert Nobbe

Militairy logbook #2185 Evert Nobbe

On 16.03.1902 Evert marries in Meester Cornelis a native woman by the name of Tjot. Unfortunately, I could not find a birth date or more information about Tjot but since this is a living website and information can always be added as it becomes available, I will try to find out more.

On 25 September 1909, he was granted a passport stating C.V.G. (certificate of good conduct) and on 6 October 1909, this was issued in Batavia.

Evert Nobbe and his wife Tjot have 6 children.

1. Albert Nobbe born on 01.07.1902 in Weltevreden. Tjot was pregnant when she married Evert. A date and place of death has not been found yet.
2. Corrie Paulien Nobbe born on 19.03.1904 in Weltevreden, died on18.02.1923  in Meester Cornelis
3. Benjamin Nicodemus Nobbe born on 07.12.1907 in Weltevreden, died on 05.07.1982 in Alblasserdam 25%nl/75%ind
4. Elisabeth Nobbe born on 29.01.1910 inMeester Cornelis, died on 12.10.1973 and emigrated to Oregon U.S.A
5. Charlotte Everdine Nobbe born on 03.09.1912 in Meester Cornelis, died on 31.10.1933 in Atjeh
6. Gusta Freida Nobbe born on 24.03.1914 in Meester Cornelis and emigrated to California U.S.A on 10.11.1961 and died there in 1997

Since his father Evert is an Indo European and his mother a native woman, the ratio of Dutch to Indo is now 25% Dutch blood and 75% Indo. This is especially important for Francis to know.

True to tradition, my father Benjamin Nicodemus Nobbe followed in the footsteps of his father Evert, uncles and great uncles, and on "27 March 1926 in Meester Cornelis was temporarily attached for three years as fusilier (recommended soldier) and placed at the cadet school in Mangelang". On 19 March 1928, he is awarded the title Infantryman 1^e class Brigadier titular and on 16 September 1929 he becomes Sergeant and 24.10.1929 Fourier.

Father meets his first wife, Emmy Eysma. Emmy Eysma is a woman born in the Dutch East Indies (from what I have been able to find and probably native 50/50 or more).

Benjamin and Emmy married on 27.08.1930 at Buitenzorg.

1. On 24.02.1931, their first child was born in Tj Pinang, a daughter named Norma Eleonora Nobbe.
2. On 21 May 1932, a second daughter was born, Yvonne, who died one day before her 2^e birthday on 20 May 1934.

In 1933, Benjamin was awarded the Bronze Medal, which was usually given for "order and loyalty".

On 6 September 1934, a few months after Yvonne's death, Benjamin received the rank of Sergeant-Major Administrator.

      3. On 07.08.1938 the first son was born in Sintang on the island of Borneo, he was             given the name Rudi Benjamin and died at the age of 64 in Zwijndrecht on                       14.11.2002.

In 1939, Benjamin was awarded the Silver Medal for 'courage and loyalty'.

      4. On 01.01.1941 another son was born and was given the name George Richard               in Tilatjap on the island of Java.

On 08.03.1942, after the invasion and occupation by the Japanese, Benjamin became a prisoner of war and ended up in a Japanese camp. He then belongs to the VI ^e infantry depot in Tjimahi and is still married to Emmy who also lives in Tjimahi and is preganant again.

       5. On 04.09.1942, during the occupation of the Japanese, the last son Nicodemus             Bernard was born in Tjimahi.

Even before Benjamin Nicodemus is freed, he is awarded the Silver Buckle, a sign for war achievements.

On 15.08.1945, Benjamin was liberated and on 17.09.1946 he re-entered the army and became temporary Assistant Petty Officer Administrator. On 13.11.1948 the temporary rank of Adjutant-Commander-Administrator was made effective.  

Benjamin and Emmy's marriage did not last and a divorce was pronounced. The date of the divorce is not known, but since Benjamin later took the four living children with him to the Netherlands, I suspect that Emmy was indeed a native woman without rights. Benjamin did send money to the East Indies from the Netherlands for many years.

On 26.07.1950, he was transferred to the Royal Land Forces where he was eventually sent back to the Netherlands due to a reorganisation. There is an entry on his military log of "end of service". On 01.09.1950 he, accompanied by his four surviving children, boarded the ship Fair Sea in Tandjong Priok for the crossing to the Netherlands. The journey lasted one month and on 27.09.1950 they arrived in Rotterdam. The children adored their mother Emmy but they had to say goodbye to her in the Indies. How they experienced this and if they ever had contact with her again is as yet unknown.

On 26.05.1952, a decision is made by the Royal Army that Benjamin is entitled to a pension with a service in the KNIL of 23 years, 3 months and 28 days.

Life in the Netherlands as an active soldier is not easy and he needs help with his four children. He seeks this help at the Green Cross Foundation in Alblasserdam, where he lives, and meets Francisca Hermine Commu, who works there.

A year after Benjamin arrived in the Netherlands with his four children, he married Francisca Hermina Commu (my mother), who was 23 years younger and born in Utrecht on 20 November 1929.

Benjamin and Francisca have the same background and although Benjamin was born in the Dutch East Indies and Francisca in Utrecht, Francisca moved with her parents to the East Indies at the age of 4, to join her parents and other siblings. She spent her whole youth there and finally returned to Amsterdam at the age of 18 with the remaining siblings on the ms Boissevain on 25.03.1947. Francisca's background has more similarities than can be seen at first sight and I will come back to this later in my mother's story.

From this marriage 6 children were born:

1. Eduard Gijsbert (Gijs) born on 01.06.1952 in Bilthoven died 24.02.2018 Spijkenisse
2. Eveline Ingrid (Inge) born on 03.09.1953 in Rotterdam died on 09.09.2004 at the young age of 51 in Nieuw-Lekkerland
3. Edith Johanna (Joke) born on 05.05.1955  in Alblasserdam
4. Esmeralda Belinda (Linda) born on 02.04.1961 in Alblasserdam
5. Everardus Robert born on 05.08.1963 in Alblasserdam
6. Francis born on 09.05.1968 in Alblasserdam

The fact that father had been in the KNIL was very much alive in his daily routines and the family is anything but warm and loving. Father has a large pension but this is not noticeable in our daily family life. "He was hot-tempered and full of hate and aggression”. Francisca is no better and a real witch to the older children from father’s first marriage. Benjamin has a better relationship with his mother-in-law than his own wife. It is even suggested, but so far not proven, that his second wife, Francisca, who was also more than 20 years younger than him, had a relationship with Ruud (Rudi Benjamin), who was only nine years younger than Francisca and was a child from her husband's first marriage (and her stepson).

It is therefore quite possible that the three youngest children, but almost certainly Esmeralda, are the descendants of Ruud and not of father Benjamin, which can only be confirmed by a DNA test.

Mother also has her traces from the past and talked very little about this, especially about her period in the Japanese internment camp. The only thing she ever said was that she had been bayoneted. Mother was also violent and often hit the children. There has been no trauma processing and this family is reminiscent of and similar to the stories in Adriaan van Dis's books.

Life in Alblasserdam is not a pleasant memory I like to remember. The street and the neighbourhood where we lived was like a ghetto with the toko that drove through the streets once a week and where you could do your shopping. Mother also put all the children to work and we were used to do all kinds of odd jobs to earn extra money while there was actually enough money available.

Father probably sent money to the East Indies and this was probably arranged with Emmy, his first wife, at the time of the divorce as a kind of compensation for taking the children to the Netherlands. Furthermore, mother and father were very stingy and there was never any money for new clothes or other things that we needed. I remember very well that my clothes were hand-me-downs from other Indo children in the neighbourhood.

An anecdote about my sister, which I will never forget, is that she was colouring and irritated my father. He called my mother, who stepped on the colouring pens in a vicious manner so that she could not continue to colour.

If my brother had done something that Mother did not like, she would call me or one of the other children to get the bamboo stick or any other object with a stick to beat him. If I or any other brother or sister refused, we too would be hit with the same stick. At the age of 16, I decided to leave home and travel to Switzerland with my boyfriend, who has been my husband for more than 35 years. Here in Switzerland, I tried to put life and the traumas I experienced as a child behind me.

Francisca Hermina Commu (my mother)

Although I have no good memories of my mother and am not really interested in her background, Tilly thought it important to find out about it. It is necessary to find out whether I am Dutch or Indo or what proportion of the two I am. Much can be traced back and the genes also play a role here. As my ancestors on my father's side were all KNIL-military, so are those of my mother and I will elaborate on this below. What we can conclude from this is that children of KNIL soldiers who marry children of KNIL soldiers have inherited a piece of trauma for which there was no therapy in those days. Mixed with the forced departure from the country of their origin, this has turned out to be a true cocktail, in my case, for aggression and hatred. The origin of Francisca's trauma will become clear from the story of her father.

As in my father's story, Tilly chose to go back to my great-great-grandparents.

Lambert Joseph Schreuder born on 06.03.1852 in Maastricht (the father of my great grandfather) marries Odilia Leenders, born in Limburg on 08.10.1873, also in Maastricht on 11.01.1952. This is Odilia's first marriage and she will experience a lot of grief because a lot of her 11 children die at a very young age. Below the 11 children she has with Lambert Joseph:

1. Maria Catharina Hubertina born on 23.11.1873 in Maastricht died on 25.11.1873    (1 month old)
2. Johannes born on 04.12.1875 in Maastricht died on  29.02.1876 (2 months old)
3. Arnoldus born on 19.02.1877 in Maastricht died on 19.06.1877 (4 months old)
4. Franciscus born on 17 april 1878 in Maastricht died on 10.1933 in Tjimahi N-I 
5. Andreas born on 04.04.1880 in Tjimahi N-I died on 19.12.1955 place unknown
6. Joseph born on10.04.1882 in Maastricht died on17.04.1884 (2 years old)
7. Christiaan born on 01.07.1884 in Maastricht died on 15.06.1885 (1 year old)
8. Renerus born on 31.08.1885 in Maastricht died on 21.09.1886 (1 year old)
9. Willem Hubertus born on19.10.1887 in Maastricht date and place of death unknown
10. Cornelus born on 20.02.1889 in  Maastricht place and date of death unknown
11. Josephina born  on 17.09.1891 in Maastricht place and date of death unknown

Lambert Joseph Schreuder died on 01.10.1892 after which Odilia, now a widow, became pregnant by Augustus Benoit, more than 12 years older and born in Limburg on 1.1.1840. Their first and only daughter but Odilia's 12^e child Elisabeth was born in Maastricht on 21.01.1896. It takes another 5 years before Odilia marries her second husband Augustus Benoit on 16.01.1901 in Maastricht. Augustus does acknowledge Elisabeth completely as his own daughter and so she gets the surname Benoit. This second marriage lasted only about 5 years because Augustus Benoit died on 15.12.1906. Ten years later Odilia also died on 26.12.1916.

Gerrit Commu born 29.12.1861 in Vianen with profession Head of Police (the father of my great-grandmother) marries on 24.12.1883 in Utrecht, Allegonda Mulder born on 07.12.1863 in Utrecht. Just like the parents of my great-grandfather a lot of children were born into this family and also some died at a very young age.

A total of 15 children are born:

1. Leonardus Marinus born on 05.02.1884 in  Utrecht, died on 12.04.1884  in Utrecht (2 months old)
2. Johannes Hermanus born on12.03.1885 in Utrecht, date and place of death unknown
3. Allegonda Johanna born on 25.07.1887 in Utrecht, died on 16.07.1939 in Zuilen
4. Leonardus Marinus born on 10.08.1888 in Utrecht, died on 26.06.1945 in Ambarawa Kamp 7
5. Gerrit Marinus born on 10.07.1890 in Utrecht, died  on15.05.1891 in Utrecht
6. Anna Maria born on 02.04.1892 in Utrecht date and place of death unknown
7. Gerardus Cornelis born on 02.02.1894 in Utrecht, died on 05.07.1971 in Amsterdam
8. Adriana Wilhelmina born on 26.01.1896 in Utrecht, died on 11.03.1939 in Utrecht
9. Hermina Cornelia born on 11.04.1897 in Utrecht, died on 28.07.1897 in Utrecht   (3 months old)
10. Hermina Cornelia born on 15.09.1898 in Utrecht, died on 16.01.1901 in Utrecht    (1,5 years old)
11. Helena Martha born on 09.03.1900 in Utrecht, died on 12.04.1928 in Utrecht
12. Willem Frederik born on 16.06.1901 in Utrecht, died on 24.06.1944 a seamans grave Nagasaki 
13. Hermanus Hendrikus born on 02.12.1902 in Utrecht, died on 23.12.1968 in Hilversum
14. Antonius Johannes born on 28.07.1904 in Utrecht date and place of death unknown
15. Stillborn without indication of name or sex on 05.04.1906 in Utrecht
    

My great-great-grandmother Mina Schreuder - Kartodikromo

My great grandfather Albert Nobbe

My grandfather Evert Nobbe 23.02.1881 - 29.01.1975

My grandfather Evert and father Benjamin Nicodemus Nobbe

My father Benjamin with his first wife Emmy Eysma

That is me (Francis)

From left to right: Rudy Joke, Gijs, Inge and baby Linda

My father Benjamin Nicodemus Nobbe

My grandmother

Allegona Commu-Mulder

From left to right: Rudy, sitting Elly with little George on her lap.

These are three of my father's 5 children from his first marriage

From the age of 50 onwards, my background, particularly that of the Indies, began to play a very important role for me. The main question here was: am I Dutch by birth or an Indo? Fortunately, after intensive research by Tilly, this question and many others was answered and I can proudly say that I am 50% Dutch and 50% Indo and I hope that I can now give the past a place and close that period.

Francis Nobbe, juni 2022

Aunt Hilda with her husband Willem Bennik and child

Wedding anouncement 07.01.1951 Nieuw Utrechts Dagblad

My mother

Francisca Hermina Nobbe -  Commu

My mother Friancisca Hermina Commu

From left to right: Rudy: Rob (Everardus), Francis (me) and Linda (Esmeralda)