Stories from Deli

De Sumatra Post NV Bookstore and printer , Varekamp & Co., Medan.

1898-1923.

On the 1st January 1924 the daily newspaper ‘De Sumatra Post’ in Medan commemorated its 25th anniversary, and although the bookshop to which the publication of the magazine was connected, founded by Mr J. Hallermann, and now known as Boekhandel en Drukerij vrhn . Varekamp & Co., which has been around for some time, saw both companies so closely related in this event leadership to conclude a period of existence, and an Indian way, that is: neatly executed memorial book published by the firms, was the result.

Connected to the history of the Indies bookshops is the attractiveness that all pioneering work, the building up from the very beginning, possesses. The history of these firms, as described in this memorial book, also speaks of this:

Older residents of Medan remember that the large company that now bears the name Boekhandel en Drukkerij, formerly Varekamp & Co., was originally founded by Mr. Jozeph Hallermann. Herr Hallermann was a planter by birth – we would almost say, of course. Like others, he also saw the possibilities and opportunities that already in the 1990s the then still young but promising Deli offered initiative and energy. 

Mr. Hallermann had planted tobacco in Borneo and Sumatra, and, as he had new ventures to open, had also done his part in the pioneering work which has brought this country to such rapid growth. His original disposition, however, strengthened by a humanistic training in his early years, gradually made him long for a job, which would allow him to move more into the center of Delian life. In fact, however, a serious attempt on his life in the primeval forest, during which he was miraculously saved from death, brought the turning point in his life. 

In order to recover from this blow he had to go to Medan, and while his wounds were healing the plan came to him to remain at Medan and start a bookshop and printing house. Although the DeliCourant had already been founded in 1885 and Medan already had a printing business, the foundation of a bookshop was allowed to be called something new. Even in the years of solitude in distant regions, having felt the great lack of regular reading, Herr Hallermann had the happy thought of supplying this need for the Delian planting world in general. Even then, that small world already counted elderly and young people from different European nationalities: Dutch, German, Swiss. French; and so the bookshop to be founded had to be able to meet from the start practice this more and more, to convert the gradually acquired experience into a safe extension of his young «business», that is what the joie de vivre of those first years as a bookseller meant to Herr Hallermann. 

And though he was most certainly concerned primarily with the flourishing of his young enterprise itself; yet it may be said post date that he also worked in the public interest, as he enabled the tobacco grower, by means of reading material, bought from Hallermann on the days off at Medan, in the evenings, after work had been done, to maintain contact with the civilization of the outside world.

It was at the end of the year 1898 that Mr. Hallermann established his bookshop and printing business in a small wooden house on den Kesawan, on the spot where the late Major Tjong A Fie later built his office. Mr. Hallermann immediately expressed his intention to found a newspaper for Sumatra, which he named De Sumatra Post. For only a few weeks the magazine appeared only twice a week, but already in December 1898 it became a daily newspaper. At the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Deli as a cultural country, In 1913, a short chronicle of the history of this young country was drawn up, and in it we find under the year 1898:

Establishment of the first daily newspaper in Medan: De Sumatra Post. At the same time as the electric light, daily spiritual information for the Delian public made its appearance in the city and region. As said, the first issues of the daily newspaper appeared in the last month of the year 1898. However, those were more sample issues; the actual newspaper business started on the 1st January of the year 1899, and so today, the 1st January 1924, the Sumatra Post looks back on a existence of a quarter of a century. The magazine shares this joy with the book and stationery store and printing house with which it has been closely associated all these years. In January 1924, the Sumatra Post goes back on a quarter of a century’s existence. The magazine shares this joy with the book and stationery store and printing house with which it has been closely associated all these years. In January 1924, the Sumatra Post goes back on a quarter of a century’s existence. The magazine shares this joy with the book and stationery store and printing house with which it has been closely associated all these years.

According to Mr. Hallermann’s own words, 25 years ago it was his goal to create a newspaper, which could attempt, completely independently and independently, apart from all special interests in the region, to to serve the ideal interests of all residents of the East Coast, of whatever nationality, rank, or position. Herr Hallermann has been fortunate to have been able to entrust the management of the newspaper he founded successively over the years to men who had the same ideal in mind. Fortunately, it is no boast that The Sumatra Post has preserved the character that its founder gave it during the first quarter of a century of its existence.

Already before the year 1914, Mr. Hallermann had gradually brought his bookshop and printing business to a remarkable flourishing. In the early years the company was already transferred to a plot on the Kesawan next to the residence of the late Major Tjong A Fie, at the time a house built partly of wood of a Chinese merchant. A few years ago the grand building was built on the same spot, in which the company, which has now been completely modernized according to the requirements of the times, is now located. But already in the year 1913 the original primitive book and office supply store had made way for a high stone building, which already then could be called an asset to the center of the city.

The outbreak of the European war has led to great changes in this enterprise as well. A direct consequence was that the founder had to withdraw and finally hand over the whole business to others. But even after that, Herr Hallermann, who returned to his homeland, continued to follow the further development of the enterprise with explainable intense interest, and if there is anyone who at this moment delights in the position which the enterprise he founded in Delian life then most certainly the man to whom our company owes its existence.

The commemorative book also commemorates the development of the company during and after the war, and contains numerous photos of the company, printing house, compositor, bureaux and bookshop.

Nieuwsblad voor den bookshop jrg 91, 1924, no 55, 11-07-1924
11-07-1924 https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=dts:2739004:mpeg21:0003