The year 2026 marks 75 years since the arrival of the first major group of Moluccans (Molukkers) in the Netherlands. In 1951, around 12500 Moluccans - many of them former soldiers of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL), and their families - were transported to the Netherlands following the war of independence in Indonesia. Initially, this was supposed to be a temporary measure: a Moluccan state, in the form of the Republik Maluku Selatan (RMS), was proclaimed in the Moluccas in 1950; Moluccans were supposed to remain in the Netherlands only until the war ended. However, the RMS failed to materialise, and in 1966 its government-in-exile escaped to the Netherlands, from which is still operates. So the Moluccan stayed, and the following decades saw activism for civil rights and housing. Today, with the third generation, the Molukkers are a distinct and significant community in the Netherlands, formed of about 70000 people, mostly descendent of the KNIL soldiers. You can find more about their stories here

