Maurice Swirc wins with De Indische Doofpot Brusse Prize for best journalistic book

NOSMaurice Swirc

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 23:59

Maurice Swirc has won this year’s Brusse Prize for the best Dutch-language journalistic book. In De Indische Doofpot, the journalist describes Dutch war crimes in Indonesia and how they were kept secret.

Swirc received the prize from jury chairman Hasna El Maroudi in the radio program Met het Oog op Morgen. The prize is accompanied by a cash prize of 10,000 euros.

According to the jury, which includes previous winner Roline Redmond and former NOS editor-in-chief Marcel Gelauff, Swirc shows in his book that the violence in Dutch operations in the Dutch East Indies was systematic and “ordinary”. “It was the culture. The social significance of this book is therefore great because it offers new insights. The book holds up a mirror to all of us.”

“Incredible, a huge honor,” said Swirc in a first reaction. “I think a piece of reality has been added,” he says about his book. “So much has been written, but by putting everything together and zooming in, I think something extra has come into the picture. It is an ode to the loners, the dissidents, the stubborn types.”

The other books nominated for the prize are: Etty Hillesum. The story of her life by Judith Koelemeijer, Ontaard land. The struggle of a Groningen citizen against the gas regents of Ineke Noordhoff, Sywert’s millions. The hunt for the face mask gold of Jan-Hein Strop and Stefan Vermeulen and Rotterdam. An ode to inefficiency by Arjen van Veelen.

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