World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe luxurious Hotel Oranje in Surabaya, Dutch East Indies was founded in 1910 by Lucas Martin Sarkies, an ethnic Armenian businessman from Iran. The building was designed by Regent Alfred John Bidwell, who was by then already famous for his buildings in Malaya and Singapore. When Surabaya was captured by the Japanese in 1942, it was briefly used as an internment camp for Dutch civilians, mainly women and children. Renamed Hotel Yamato, it served the dual purpose of a luxury hotel (often hosting dignitaries such as visiting German military officers) as well as the headquarters of Japanese forces in East Java. After the war, it was the headquarters of the Recovery of Allied Pirsoner of War and Internees organization as well as the headquarters of the Japanese troops charged with keeping order in the city. The hotel was the site of an incident on 19 Sep 1945 during which, after young Dutch men recently released from captivity enthusiastically raised the Dutch tri-color atop the hotel, radical Indonesian nationalists attacked, resulting in the death of the leader of the Dutch group. The Indonesians lowered the Dutch flag, tore off the blue third of the flag, and re-raised it as an Indonesian flag. The Dutch nationalists later called the building Hotel Merdeka (Hotel Freedom). In 1946, the Sarkies family returned to manage the business, renaming it the Lucas Martin Sarkies Hotel (Lucas Martin Sarkies had passed away in 1912). In 1969, under different ownership, the hotel was renamed to its present-day name of Hotel Majapahit. In 2014, it was recognized as a cultural heritage landmark by the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture.

Hotel Yamato Timeline