German Indonesians


Indonesian Germans are people of German ancestry who had settled in the Dutch East Indies, 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, Bogor, Puncak, Bali and Surabaya.

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 thousands of Germans came to Indonesia making them one of the most significant European population in the colony, after the Dutch and the Portuguese, 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 who were contracted into the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army in 1790–1808. The Württemberg regiment numbered around 2,000 soldiers, many Christian missionaries who are active in the colony at the time are also Germans.
In the nineteenth century, German-speaking European physicians constituted the largest group of non-Dutch European physicians in the Dutch East Indies. In the nineteenth century, more than 300 German, Swiss, and Austro-Hungarian medical practitioners served in the Dutch colonial health service, with the majority joining the medical corps of the Dutch Colonial Army 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