Comic-Lesung: Peter Van Dongen - Rampokan

In the organizer's words:

In Studio B of the Dortmund City and State Library

Free admission, no registration required

Rampokan - A comic about identity, colonialism and personal quest

In 1946, the Netherlands is trying to regain control of its former colony Indonesia after the Second World War. But the world has changed, and with it the relationship between colonial power and colony. The deployment of the colonial professional army is not enough - a contingent of conscripts is sent to fight against the so-called "terrorists".

Johan Knevel finds himself in the middle of this turmoil. He volunteers, not out of a sense of duty, but out of a deep, personal motivation. Johan wants to know what has become of his Indonesian nanny - the woman who was once like a mother to him. But the Indonesia of his childhood, the paradise of his memories, no longer exists. The reality of war, the horrors of colonial rule and the search for his identity overshadow his journey.

Rampokan is more than a comic. It is a visual and narrative reflection on colonialism, personal loss and the question of what home means. The author, Peter Van Dongen, draws on his own family history - as the son of a Dutch father and an Indonesian mother. The conflicts of two worlds merge in his clear, detailed line.

Moderation: Klaus Schikowski