Remco Campert

Vocation

Notable

Celebrated Dutch poet, columnist and writer, the son of noted parents. He was the son of the journalist and poet Jan Campert (15 August 1902, Spijkenisse - 12 January 1943, KZ Neuengamme) and the actress and drama translator Wilhelmina (Joekie) Broedelet (4 October 1903, Den Haag – 3 July 1996, Amsterdam). They married 8 February 1928 in Den Haag, but divorced when Remco was three (19 December 1932). He then stayed with his mother, first in Den Haag, later in Amsterdam (1941). His father died in the Nacht und Nebel of Nazi Germany. After his death in WW2 his bohemian father Jan, became a Dutch symbol of resistance, but for Remco, who would also become a celebrated poet of the movement of the Fifties, his father was miles away. Aso his mother was often away for work, he was often sent to family, including his grandfather, the writer and actor Johan W. Broedelet(4 April 1877, Batavia - 2 September 1946, Den Haag). During the war Remco visited the Lyceum of Den Haag. In 1941 his house wand their surroundings were destroyed, as the Germans wanted to dig tank ditches. They expected the invasion at the coast of Holland. In 1942, Remco was sent to the family Moody in Epe, a friend of his mother. He spent three three years and followed the MULO school. In Epe he heard that his father died in the Neuengamme concentration camp. Later he wrote the poem "January 1943", included in the bundle Scenes Hotel Morandi (1983). He became angry: "Ik kreeg een hekel aan de schim die mijn vader was. Waar haalde hij het recht vandaan om in mijn leven te blijven rondspoken? Hij had zichzelf uit mijn leven verwijderd, waarom lukte het me niet om hetzelfde met hem te doen? Ik moest me van hem bevrijden." (I hated the shadow that was my father. With what right could he haunt my life? He had removed himself from my life, why did not I get to do the same to him? I had to free myself from him). After the war, the 16 years old Remco moved to Amsterdam (Sept 1945). He visited the Lyceum, where he met his life-long (fifty years) friend Rudy Kousbroek (1 November 1929, Pematang Siantar - 4 April 2010, Leiden). Kousbroek spent his youth in Japanese detention camps. Both talented writers became editors of the school paper "Halo" (Het Amsterdams Lyceïsten Orgaan), went to Paris (1949, 1950) and erected in 1950 the literary magazine Braak. Remco left the Gymnasium before getting a diploma, as he decided to to become a writer. Together with Lucebert, Simon Vinkenoog and Hugo Claus they formed a new generation of poets, called the Vijftigers. He debuted with Ten lessons with Timothy (25 exemplars, now a collectors item inspired by Jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie), that he tried to sell on the streets in Paris. In 1951 he published the commercial poetry bundle "Vogels vliegen toch". He kept on writing poetry, till the 1970 bundle "Betere tijden", after which he got a writers block, till 1978, when the bundle "Theater" appeared. In 1953 he got the Reina Prinsen Geerligs award for "Berchtesgaden". In 1955, the Poetry award of the city of Amsterdam for the poem "Gedicht met een moraal" (poem without morale). In 1956, he got the Jan Campert award for "Met man en muis en Het huis waarin ik woonde" (with man and mice and the house Ii lived in) and in 1958, the Anne Frank award for "Vogels vliegen toch" (birds do fly anyway). But as he could not earn enough money with poetry, he started to write columns, short stories and essays. Especially his prose was embraced by the general public. His first major success was the short stories bundle "Alle dagen feest" (Party all days, 1955). And the in six weeks written "Het leven is vurrukkulluk" (Life is vurrukkulluk, 1961} became a Dutch classic. Here he painted a beautiful picture time with young artists and love in the lead. The 60s became the "prosaic" years of Remco Campert. The style of a keen observer who is able to grasp the seriousness in a slightly ironic tone, emerges now final. Personal. In 1949 he married at age 19 the artist Freddy Rutgers, a girl from Wassenaar. Freddy left him in 1954 for Gerrit Kouwenaar. On 20 December 1957 he married in Blaricum Fritzi Harmsen van Beek. Their house [1] became a place were writers and pets met. End 1958, they divorced and Campert returned to Amsterdam. In 1960 he got a daughter Emmanuelle from Lucia van de Berg. They married in 1961 and in 1963 the photographer Cleo Campert was born. In 1964 they moved to Antwerp, in 1966 he returned to Amsterdam alone. Here he met the art connoisseur and gallery owner Deborah Wolf (Kansas City, Missouri, 1938). They lived together till 1980, then went their own way, to marry again in 1996. Link to Wikipedia