Hitler's Indonesian Dream

According to a new book, Nazi ideology had made its presence felt well before the formation of state ideology Pancasila in Indonesia. Offices for the Nazi party were set up in 1931 in Jakarta (then called Batavia), Surabaya, Bandung, Medan, Padang, and Makassar. Together, the islands in the Dutch Indies (now Indonesia) contained the second-largest Nazi presence in Asia, second only to China.

This fascinating discovery was put forward in a two-volume set published in Germany last February, entitled Hitlers Griff nach Asien (Hitler's Grab for Asia), and authored by German writer Horst H. Geerken, 82. In addition, according to Geerken, Hitler also supported the struggle of the voluntary paramilitary force, Peta, a contraction of 'defenders of the homeland' in Indonesian, by providing military assistance and training.

June 2, 2015