Last year, the Dutch government was shaken by Remy Limpach's book De brandende kampongs van Generaal Spoor, published in October 2016. The Swiss-Dutch historian's latest study revealed that the Dutch colonial government had perpetrated systemic violence in Indonesia throughout the period of 1945-1949.

Early last February, Frank van Vree, director of the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NOID), requested the Dutch government's permission