The Dutch East Indies in Japan’s Web

This wartime cartoon, published in Netherlands News (New York, 1942–1943), shows the Dutch East Indies as a vulnerable, nude woman trapped in a spider’s web. The spider, labeled “Japan,” looms fiercely over her, while a hand marked “United States” thrusts a knife toward the predator. The imagery reflects the colonial stakes of the Pacific War, casting Japan as a menacing occupier and the U.S. as the force poised to liberate the Indies.