In 1999, plans were made to create a memorial for Dutch military personnel who lost their lives in the former Dutch East Indies and New Guinea. Two initiators, one of whom was a veteran, established the Indië Monument Groningen Foundation for this purpose. They received support from local veterans' associations.
The Selwerderhof cemetery was chosen as the location. Artists Anne Hilderink and Peter de Kan were commissioned to design the monument, incorporating the names of those who lost their lives. The design was also required to include references to sawahs, or rice fields, and water.
The monument consists of a sunken path approximately 120 metres long. Along one side is a long, bench-like structure, while the other side features a continuous sandstone band. The path follows the outline of an existing pond within the cemetery.
The sandstone band contains the names of 136 people, together with their dates of birth and death. A total of 143 soldiers from Groningen lost their lives, but the families of some of them did not give permission for their names to be included. The names are arranged chronologically according to their date of death.
The name band begins with the inscription “NEDERLANDS INDIË 1945-” and ends with “-1962 NIEUW GUINEA”, creating a visual representation of a timeline. Differences in height throughout the monument refer to the landscape of the rice fields.
A plaque next to the monument features the poem Psalm by Dutch poet Rutger Kopland.
