On Aug. 27, 1945, a U.S. military transport plane takes off from Moekden (northern China) en route to Chungking, the capital of the Republic of China. This is where the Dutch embassy was located at the time. On board the plane was the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies: Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer. A few days earlier, he had been freed from three and a half years of captivity, spread over several Japanese camps. Less than two months later, Van Starkenborgh stepped down as governor general; at the same time that a decolonization struggle was erupting in the former colony in full force. The history of the decolonization of Indonesia has been described in many books and still attracts interest. At first glance, after 1945, this last governor general played no role whatsoever in that decolonization as well as the postwar memory of the Indian past. His historical figure was not treated, or at best only indirectly, in the literature, as if he no longer played a role after 1945. This biography shows a different picture. Van Starkenborgh did play a role during decolonization and, after World War II, has been connected to the Indian past more than perhaps thought. His life, functions and influence reach further than previously assumed. An indispensable book for those who really want to understand the (end of the) colonial past of the Netherlands. Paul van Lunteren (1990) studied history, theology and archivistics. He works as a municipal archivist and also writes about historical subjects. This book is his first publication on the colonial past in the former Dutch East Indies.