The ''Soerabaijasch Handelsblad'' ("Surabaya Commercial Paper") was a Dutch-language

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

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 ...

, in what was then 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 ...

. It was published by Kolff and Company. Newspapers in Surabaya date to 1836, when the Dutch-language ''Soerabaijasch Advertentieblad'' was published. ''Soerabaijasch Handelsblad'' was established in 1853, under the name ''De Oostpost'' ("The Eastern Post"); it was the second newspaper published in Surabaya. Although the initial publication was limited to advertisements, the newspaper eventually began including news and items of general interest, including film and book reviews.See, for instance, The name was changed in 1865 to ''Soerabaijasch Handelsblad'', which remained in use until the newspaper was shut down in 1942, following the

Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies The Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during World War II from March 1942 until after the end of the war in September 1945. In May 1940, Germany German invasion of the Netherlands, occupied the Netherlands, and ma ...

. Although for most of its existence the newspaper was dated using the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

, from 17 May to 6 June 1942 (during the occupation, which lasted until 1945) it used the Japanese ''kōki'' (皇紀) calendar. The ''Soerabaijasch Handelsblad'' was reestablished in 1945 as the ''Nieuwe Courant'' ("New Courant"); through 1946 it was billed as the official newspaper of the Allied Military Administration-Civil Affairs Branch, a semi-military organization tasked with restoring Dutch colonial administration and law in the recently proclaimed

Republic of Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, which claimed most of the Indies. This publication lasted until 1951, when it was renamed the ''Nieuw Soerabaiasch Handelsblad''. The newspaper was ultimately shut down in 1957. The Dutch newspaper archive Delpher.nl provides access to scans of the ''Soerabaijasch Handelsblad'' from two periods, 1865–1908 and 1929–1942. Scanning of this material was completed by the

National Library of the Netherlands The KB National Library of the Netherlands (legal Dutch name: Koninklijke Bibliotheek or KB ; ''Royal Library'') is the national library of the Netherlands, based in The Hague, founded in 1798. The KB collects everything that is published in ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soerabaijasch Handelsblad Dutch-language newspapers published in the Dutch East Indies Dutch-language newspapers Newspapers published in Surabaya 1853 establishments in the Dutch East Indies 1942 disestablishments in the Dutch East Indies 1945 establishments in Indonesia 1957 disestablishments in Indonesia Defunct companies of the Dutch East Indies Defunct companies of Indonesia Publications established in 1853 Publications disestablished in 1957