Isral Querido

Vocation

Dutch naturalist writer from a noted Sephardic family. Querido came from an emancipating Jewish workers family. His father was literally born in a dark and dirty cellar, but by working hard and having some luck with the 1869 diamond Boom in Kimberley, SA, the skilled diamond cutter Aaron Querido (24 February 1942, A'dam - 18 October 1899, A'dam) was able to let his children work for a better future, which started with educating themselves. So Israël and his siblings who were born in the more wealthy Jodenbreestraat in Amsterdam got private education and even music lessons, at least till age 15. But thereafter they had to sustain their own bread in the 19th century. Israël tried several jobs like diamond worker, watchmaker, violinist, jeweller and journalist. The first two jobs failed, because of bad sight. As a writer, he debuted in 1893 with a collection of poems under the title "Versen", soon followed by "Gedichten" (Poems, 1894), written under the impression of a visit to Paris. He wrote them using the under the pseudonym "Theo Reeder", as his Jewish name Israël ("Triumphant with God") name might lead to discrimination in the protestant . The more cryptic penn-name "Theo Reeder" might be translated as G'd (Theo) is our shipowner (reder) or saviour (redder). He died 5 August 1932 in Amsterdam of an heart attack. Link to German Wikipedia