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Ouderland, William AS (Bir Pratik) (1917-2001) Dutch-Australian
William AS Ouderland was the only foreigner who was honoured with the
state insignia of 'Bir Pratik' by the government of Bangladesh
for his very active participation in and heroic contribution, to the war
of liberation in 1971. An Australian national Ouderland was
born at Amsterdam in Netherland on 6 December 1917. At the age of seventeen
he took a job in the Bata Shoe Company as Shoe-shiner (1934). After two
years he left the job and joined National Service and was a Sergeant in
the Royal Signal Corps (1936). He left the service in 1940 and then participated
in the Second World War (1939-1945) as a guerilla commando of the Dutch
army.
Ouderland first came to Dhaka in late 1970 with an assignment
as the Production Manager of Bata Shoe Company. Within a few months
he was promoted to the post of Company Manager. With the beginning
of the War of Liberation the company-manager Ouderland discovered
in him the ex-soldier Ouderland facing a new war. At the initial
stage he engaged himself in communicating secret intelligence
on the plans and actions of the occupation army to the freedom
fighters.
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William Ouderland |
As a foreigner he had the access to Pak-army and thereby
the opportunity to move in the army headquarters and often attend meetings
of the army officers in the cantonment.He helped the freedom fighters
in every possible way by supplying provisions and financial support. With
his experience in the Second World War as a guerilla commando and himself
being an active member of a guerilla branch of the freedom fighters of
Sector 2, he imparted regular training to the freedom fighters in guerilla
warfare at different secret camps in Tongi including the Bata Shoe Factory
premises.
Simultaneously, he gave a tremendous service at the initial
stage of the Liberation War by collecting photographs on the inhuman torture
and genocide by the occupation army in East Pakistan, and sending them
to the world news media thereby creating public opinion in favour of Liberation
War. On this point he wrote, "I recollected and resumed in myself the
experiences of my youth in Europe, and I felt that I should get the world
informed of what was happening in Bangladesh".
William AS Ouderland continued his service in the Bata
Shoe Company with his later elevated position as Managing Director till
1978 when he retired and returned back to Australia and settled there
for the rest of his life. He died on 18 May 2001 in a hospital at Perth
in West Australia leaving behind him his wife Maria and his only daughter.
In his last days he was often found telling his wife and daughter, "Bangladesh
mon amor (Bangladesh is our love). Maintain this flow of emotion for the
generation to come". [Muazzam Hussain Khan] |
