Pak Flohr: A Piece of Silat History, Finally in Print
Some martial arts are preserved through organizations, manuals and formal curricula.
Others survive because someone remembers.
For decades, much of the history of Pukulan and Pencak Silat in Europe was passed on in exactly this way: through teachers, students, conversations, photographs, training sessions and personal memories.
That is the world behind Pak Flohr, the first volume in the series My Silat Teachers, based on the life and martial journey of Walter van den Broeke and written by Francesco Cotti.
The book follows Walter’s path through the people, experiences and traditions that shaped his understanding of Indonesian martial arts, beginning with one of the most important figures of his early training: Bapak W.L. “Pak” Flohr.
Pak Flohr was not simply a teacher of techniques. He represented a generation in which training was personal, demanding and often very different from the way martial arts are taught today.
His influence stayed with Walter long after the years of direct training had ended.
The book is not intended to establish a single, definitive version of history. Its purpose is more modest, and perhaps more important: to preserve testimony while it can still be preserved.
The story is built from memories, family accounts, photographs, historical research and the voices of the people who were actually there. The Flohr family, and in particular Marjorie and Jimmy Flohr, contributed personal memories that helped reconstruct Pak Flohr not only as a martial arts teacher, but also as a father, husband and man shaped by an extraordinary life.
Index Table
From the book
One of the most powerful passages comes near the end of Walter’s story.
During one of his final visits to Pak Flohr, Walter tells him that the doctors are not optimistic. Pak Flohr looks at his hands and forearms and simply says:
“Good. You kept training.”
It is a small moment, but it says a great deal about their relationship.
Walter later remembers leaving the house in tears. Three months later, he attended Pak Flohr’s funeral, where current and former students had gathered to say goodbye. Standing before his teacher’s coffin, Walter realised that the most meaningful way to honour what he had received was to continue training and teaching Pukulan with the same seriousness.
Looking back over the years, Walter writes that Pukulan gave structure to his stubbornness, “an alphabet” to his body, and above all a responsibility to pass on what he had received.
That responsibility is at the heart of this book.
More than a martial arts biography
The story of Pak Flohr is also a window into a broader martial culture.
The book moves through Pukulan and Pencak Silat and the traditions that later became part of Walter’s development, while also exploring the complicated relationship between Dutch, Indonesian and Indo culture.
Even the terminology reflects this history. The book uses Pencak Silat while also recognising the older Dutch spelling Pentjak Silat. Terms such as Jurus, Langkah and Pasangan are retained because a simple English translation would lose part of their meaning and context.
This is therefore not a technical manual in the usual sense.
It is the record of a martial journey.
A record of teachers and students, disagreements and discoveries, training and travel, loyalty and change.
And, above all, of transmission.
The legacy remains
Near the end of the book, Walter reflects on what has stayed with him after all those years: movement before technique, the Art above the ego of the practitioner, and a bond between teacher and student that goes far beyond physical training.
The martial arts world is full of titles, arguments, claims and debates.
But when the door closes and training begins, much of that becomes background noise.
What remains is practice.
And what remains after the teacher is gone is what the student is able to carry forward.
That is ultimately what Pak Flohr is about.
Not simply remembering one teacher, but understanding what it means to inherit something and accept responsibility for preserving it.
Pak Flohr — My Silat Teachers, Volume One
Written by Francesco Cotti, based on the story and experiences of Walter van den Broeke.
The book is now available through Amazon stores worldwide, in English.
The printed book also connects readers to additional material from the Naga Kuning Institute archive, including video interviews, technical demonstrations and other material related to the book.
