Indonesian Germans are people of German ancestry who had settled in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

(now Indonesia), or German nationals who are residing in the country. There are 19,879 Germans in Indonesia as of 2020. The majority of them are found in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

Bogor Bogor City (), or Bogor (, ), is a landlocked city in the West Java, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide.

Puncak Puncak or Puncak Pass (; ) is a mountain pass in Bogor Regency, West Java, Indonesia. The pass connects the cities of Bogor and Bandung and is spread within the regencies of Bogor, Cianjur, and Sukabumi. Puncak Pass is located between Mt. Gede ...

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

and

Surabaya Surabaya is the capital city of East Java Provinces of Indonesia, province and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern corner of Java island, on the Madura Strai ...

History

There is a long history between Germans and Indonesians, dating back to the 16th century when German traders travelling on Dutch and Portuguese ships came to what was then known as the East Indies. During the Company rule of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

(VOC) thousands of Germans came to Indonesia, both as administrative employees under the Dutch Colony, as well as engineers, researchers, technical scientists and German soldiers. Most infamously the Württemberg Regiment. The Württemberg Regiment, also known as the Contract Army, was a regiment of Germans from

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

who were contracted into the

Royal Netherlands East Indies Army The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (; KNIL, ; ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The KNIL's air arm was the Royal Netherl ...

in 1790–1808. The Württemberg regiment numbered around 2,000 soldiers. In the nineteenth century, German-speaking European

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

s constituted the largest group of non-Dutch European physicians in the Dutch East Indies. In the nineteenth century, more than 300 German,

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

, and

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

medical practitioners served in the Dutch colonial health service, with the majority joining the medical corps of the Dutch Colonial Army (KNIL) and others serving in the comparatively small colonial civil health service. German industry has been present in Indonesia since the mid-19th century. After 1945, German entrepreneurs, German experts in development cooperation as well as in education and research, and intensive academic exchanges continued the good relations between Germany and Indonesia. German schools are also present in the country, such as the German School Jakarta.

Notable German Indonesians

Nike Ardilla Raden Rara Nike Ratnadilla Kusnadi (27 December 1975 – 19 March 1995), better known as Nike Ardilla (), was an Indonesian singer and actress of Sundanese descent. Usually referred to as the Lady Rocker and the Queen of Rock by the In ...

Rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

musician *

Poppy Mercury Poppy Mercury (15 November 1972 – 28 August 1995), born Poppy Yusfidawaty, was an Indonesian rock singer and musician, active in the 1990s. Early life Poppy Yusfidawaty was born in Bandung in 1972, as the fifth of seven children of H. Kemal Jo ...

, Rock singer and musician * Meriam Bellina, actress * Melanie Berentz, actress, TV commercial model, and

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes sol ...

titleholder * Eva Celia, actress and

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musician * Marcel Chandrawinata, actress and

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

* Marintan Sirait, Performance artist * Nadine Chandrawinata, actress, award-winning film producer, model and

titleholder * Ahmad Dhani, Rock musician * Adipati Dolken, actor and brand-ambassador * Clara Shafira Krebs, beauty pageant, model and entrepreneur * Megan Domani, actor *

Ernest Douwes Dekker Ernest François Eugène Douwes Dekker also known as ''Setyabudi'' or ''Setiabudi'' (8 October 1879 – 28 August 1950) was an Indonesian-Dutch people, Dutch Indonesian National Revolution, nationalist and politician of Indo people, Indo descen ...

(half-

Indo INDO stands for Intermediate Neglect of Differential Overlap. It is a semi-empirical quantum chemistry method that is a development of the complete neglect of differential overlap (CNDO/2) method introduced by John Pople. Like CNDO/2 it uses zer ...

), national hero and political figure in the Indonesian freedom movement. * Nino Fernandez, actor * Baby Huwae, actress, model, and singer * Cinta Laura, singer, actress, and model * Franz Magnis-Suseno,

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest and

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

* Zaskia Adya Mecca, actress * Agnez Mo, musician * L. B. Moerdani, ABRI Commander * Carissa Putri, actor and model *

Jonas Rivanno Jonas Rivanno Wattimena (born 20 March 1987), also known as Vanno or Rivanno, is an Indonesian actor and model. He began his career as a model after winning in 2007 the parade sponsor Coverboy by Aneka Yess. Career Jonas Rivanno was born in S ...

(half- Ambonese- Chinese), actor * Nicholas Saputra, actor and film producer * Brandon Scheunemann, footballer *

Claudia Scheunemann Claudia Alexandra Scheunemann (born 24 April 2009) is an Indonesian footballer who plays as forward for Asprov Banten and the Indonesia women's national team. International career Scheunemann first ever national team called up was at the age o ...

, footballer * Timo Scheunemann, Indonesian association football manager * Fajar Legian Siswanto, footballer *

Maya Soetoro-Ng Maya Kasandra Soetoro-Ng (; ; born August 15, 1970) is an Indonesian-born American academic, who is a faculty specialist at the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, based in the College of Social Sciences at the Univer ...

, Indonesian-American academic and the maternal half-sister of

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

, the 44th president of the United States. * Christian Sugiono, actor and model * Kim Kurniawan, professional footballer * Suzzanna, actressHorror Artist Suzanna Dies
, ''The Jakarta Post'', 2008-10-17 *

Nafa Urbach Nafa Indria Urbach (born 15 June 1980) is an Indonesian soap opera actress and singer. She began her career in the entertainment world through with her song "Bagai Lilin Kecil" composed by Deddy Dores. She is often referred to as the successor to ...

, musician * S. Waldy, celebrated stage and film actor * Masniari Wolf, athlete, gold-medalist In the

2021 SEA Games The 2021 Southeast Asian Games (), officially known as the 31st Southeast Asian Games, 31st SEA Games or SEA Games 31, and also recognized as Viet Nam 2021, were the 31st edition of the Southeast Asian Games, the biennial regional multi-sport e ...

References

{{Portal bar, Germany, Indonesia Immigration to Indonesia Indo people Indonesian people of German descent Ethnic groups in Indonesia Germany–Indonesia relations

History

Notable German Indonesians

See also

References