Dominique Willem Berretty

Dominique Willem Berretty (20 November 1891 – 20 December 1934) was a journalist, media entrepreneur from the Dutch East Indies. He was the founder of Aneta, the first news agency in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Berretty was one of the most prominent media figures in the colonial Dutch East Indies before World War II.

He died at the age of 43 in the 1934 KLM Douglas DC-2 crash.

Personal life

Berretty was born in Djokjakarta, Java, in 1891. His father was Dominique Auguste Leonardus Berretty, a teacher and head of a private school and his mother was Marie Salem. His father was of Indo-European descent, and his mother was Javanese. Despite the social divide between races in the colony, Berretty embraced both sides of his heritage. At a reception for the governor-general, he famously appeared arm-in-arm with his mother in traditional Javanese attire.

Berretty was married six times. From his marriage to the actress Mien Duymaer van Twist, which lasted from April 1925 to November 1928, he had a son and a daughter.

Berretty was known for his ambition and restlessness. His friend and Aneta director Herman Salomonson described him as a brilliant but lonely man, always chasing an undefined goal. His six marriages and frequent affairs were widely gossiped about in colonial society.

Career Education After attending MULO and briefly studying at HBS, he left home at age 17 to work in Batavia. His first job was as a postal clerk for the colonial PTT, where he learned the technical infrastructure of telegraphy. Berretty’s owned Villa Isola was said to be funded by the Japanese secret service. It was said that the tennis court was so firmly founded that there could be stationed a field artillery battery. As Berretty tried to do business with the Germans, it remains unknown if Berrretty worked with the Japanese; with the Germans; with both or with neither. According to newspaper Het Vrije Volk it was “most likely” he worked as a double spy for the political intelligence service in Batavia.

Unverified crash theory Reuters journalists' stories from the crash location were forwarded to England. These long press releases contained other information than the official readings. At Schiphol, Berretty was the last passenger who boarded the airplane, after he arrived by plane from London. According to the Reuter story he made a nervous and hurried impression. He would have told pilot Wim Beekman he was a Japanese spy, who was chased by the English police, because he had top secret documents with him. Berretty would have offered Beekman f. 50.000 and later f. 100.000 if he would an emergency landing in the desert instead of landing in Baghdad; at the time British property where Berretty would be arrested. In Cairo, pilot Beekman would have called KLM director Plesman to discuss the situation. Plesman would have ordered Beekman to continue as planned. While flying over the desert, Berretty would have shot and shortly after the airplane crashed. According to Reuters, there were bullet-shaped holes in the wing; which were attributed to lightning in the official report.

Frans van Reijsen was Head of the in 1984. His predecessor had told him that Berretty would be arrested in Baghdad. He had heard from people from Indonesia that Berretty would be a Japanese spy. He stated that no gunshot wounds were found during the autopsy. According to Van Reijsen it's unlikely there was a shooting because if there had been a shooting, that would have been favored by Plesman as the reason for the crash.

Legacy In 2018, a biography about him was published.