IN DEVELOPMENT
In the late 1930 union leader Louis Doedel (1905 – 1980) was arrested in Suriname by the then governor J.C. Kielstra and locked up in a mental institution. Doedel would stay there for 43 years under the strict supervision of the colonial authorities with the aim of making him silent and invisible to the outside world. It was not until 1980 that Doedel was released, completely broken both physically and mentally. He died a few days later.
In recent decades, several people have tried to uncover what happened to Doedel during his imprisonment. Together with director Frank Zichem, Nina Jurna made a report about her search in 1999. The various attempts failed to find out what interests were involved in keeping Doedel locked up for more than 43 years. Until February 2021 ‘suddenly’ the thick medical file of Louis Doedel was found in a drawer of the current director of the psychiatric institution. Since then, a lot of commotion has arisen, and the file is under lock and key again.
Producer Well Made Productions
Direction Hesdy Lonwijk
Research team Nina Jurna (NRC/VPRO), The Black Archives, Iwan Brave (De Ware Tijd), Hans Buddingh (NRC)
Broadcaster to be defined
Funds preliminary investigation:
