author
J. van den Brand
d. 1921
Best known for a fierce early-20th-century exposé of abuse on Sumatra’s plantation belt, this Dutch lawyer wrote with urgency and moral clarity. His work helped force attention onto the treatment of contract laborers in the Dutch East Indies.
2 Audiobooks
De millioenen uit Deli
by J. van den Brand
Nog eens: de millioenen uit Deli
by J. van den Brand
About the author
J. van den Brand was a Dutch lawyer active in Medan on the east coast of Sumatra. Sources identify him as John or Johannes van den Brand, born in 1864 and deceased in 1921, and connect him closely with public life in colonial Deli, where he also worked in journalism and civic affairs.
He is remembered above all for De millioenen uit Deli (1902), a pamphlet that described abuses against contract laborers on plantations in the region. The later Rhemrev investigation, ordered by the colonial government in 1903, was prompted by van den Brand’s allegations and concluded that his brochure gave a broadly accurate picture.
That makes van den Brand an unusual and striking figure in Dutch colonial history: a man from within the colonial world who publicly challenged its violence. Some biographical details remain hard to confirm from easily available sources, so the clearest picture is through his writing and its impact rather than through a full personal record.