JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

A fine autobiographical novel on the war is Het bittere
kruid (1957; Bitter Herbs, 1960) by Marga *Minco. She
has continued publishing one novella per decade, in a sober,
washed-out style.
Clara Asscher-Pinkhof (1896–1984), who settled in Israel,
wrote about children in Bergen-Belsen in her novel Sterrekinderen
(“Starchildren,” 1946; Hebrew, Yaldei ha-Kokhavim,
1965); Meyer Sluyser (1901–1973), a popular radio commentator,
wrote several novels on vanished Jewish life in Amsterdam,
notably Voordat ik het vergeet (“Before I Forget,” 1956).
Another war writer was Salvador Hertog (1901–1989), author
of the novel De Tuin (“The Garden,” 1957) and Meijer en ik
(“Meijer and I,” 1980).
Early postwar poets include Maurits *Mok, author of Aan
de Vermoorden uit Israel (“To the Murdered of Israel,” 1950);
Leo Vroman (1915– ), who settled in New York and wrote in
Dutch and English; and Hannie Michaelis (1922– ). Novelist
Josepha Mendels (1902–1995), who settled in Paris, tasted literary
success only late in life, when her novels about Jewish
family life Rolien en Ralien (Rolien and Ralien, 1947), and Als
vuur en rook (1950; Like Ashes and Smoke) were rediscovered
by an eager young readership.
1970–2005
Judith Herzberg (1934– ), the youngest daughter of Abel Herzberg,
made her literary debut as a poet with Zeepost (“Seamail,”
1963). She developed into the most important poet and
playwright of her generation. She is revered for her clarity of
style and her use of seemingly simple language. She based 27
liefdesliedjes (1971, “27 Love Songs”) on the biblical Song of
Songs. She succesfully translated and adapted classics of the
Yiddish theater The Golem and The Dybuk for the Dutch stage.
Her play Leedvermaak (1982) was chosen the best play of the
1980s by her peers. It deals with the unspoken trauma of a
family of Holocaust survivors and the younger generations
of child survivors and Jews born after 1945. Herzberg subsequently
wrote two more plays revolving around the Leedvermaak
characters, Rijgdraad (1995) and Simon (2003).
The literary career of Harry *Mulisch (1930– ) has
spanned decades. He broke new ground in the early 1980s
with his highly successful De aanslag (“The Assault,” 1981).
In 1985, the film by Dutch director Fons Rademakers based
on the novel won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.
Mulish had dealt with Jewish themes in his novel Het stenen
bruidsbed (“The Stone Bridal Bed,” 1959) and wrote an account
of the *Eichmann trial, De zaak 40/61 (1968). His major epic
on the world’s redemption, as seen from a Jewish perspective
through the unwitting ministrations of a Dutch boy, De ontdekking
van de hemel (1992; The Discovery of Heaven, 1996),
established his reputation worldwide.
A generation after the Holocaust, Dutch Jews who had
pursued non-literary careers started putting their wartime
experiences on paper. This has resulted in some exquisite fiction
that has reached a large international audience. Andreas
Burnier, the pen name of criminologist Catharina R. Des-
dutch literature
saur (1931–2002), published Het jongensuur (The Boys’ Hour,
1969), the first of many novels and essays on Judaism, ethics,
and religion. Physicist Jona Oberski (1938– ) wrote Kinderjaren
(1978; Childhood, 1983), a memoir of his experiences in
the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp as a small boy. Sociologist
Gerhard Durlacher (1928–1996), a prewar refugee
from Baden-Baden in Germany, did not dare to start writing
fiction until the 1980s. His small body of work includes Strepen
aan de hemel (1985; Stripes in the Sky, 1992), Drenkeling
(1985, Drowning: Growing up in the Third Reich, 1993), and De
zoektocht (1991; The Search: The Birkenau Boys, 1998). Lisette
Lewin, who had previously worked as a journalist, published
her semi-autobiographical novel Voor bijna alles bang geweest
(“Having Been Afraid of Almost Anything,” 1989). Eli Asser,
a popular writer for television and the stage, changed direction
in the early 1990s, which resulted in his war memoir
Rembrandt was mijn buurman (“Rembrandt Was My Neighbor,”
1995).
The autobiographical novel Brief aan mijn moeder (“Letter
to My Mother,” 1974) by journalist and theater critic Ischa
(Israel Chaim) Meijer (1943–1995) is credited with shattering
the taboo that children of Holocaust survivors have no cause
to complain. Meijer luridly described his troubled childhood
amongst Holocaust survivors. In Meijer’s wake many new,
younger writers have emerged who have grappled with the
Holocaust “as part of their mental history, if not their own
physical history,” in the words of author Marcel Möring. This
intense inner search has led to a large body of novels, poetry,
and plays.
Leon de Winter (1954– ) is both a novelist and a screenwriter.
He started out as the highly literary author of De
(ver)wording van de jonge Dürer (“The Corruption of Young
Dürer,” 1979), Place de la Bastille (1981), and Zoeken naar Eileen
(“In Search of Eileen,” 1981). With the publication of Kaplan
(1986) De Winter seemed to have changed his pace. His
Jewish characters, bitter humor, and use of literary techniques
often used in crime fiction have made him a bestselling novelist,
both in Holland and abroad, with Hoffman’s Honger
(“Hoffman’s Hunger,” 1990), SuperTex (“SuperTex,” 1991), De
ruimte van Sokolov (“Sokolov’s Space,” 1992), Zionoco (1995),
De hemel van Hollywood (“The Heaven Above Hollywood,”
1997), and God’s gym (2002). Many of his novels were adapted
for film or television.
Marcel Möring’s (1957– ) highly accomplished novels
Mendels Erfenis (“Mendels Heritage,” 1990), Het grote verlangen
(1995; The Great Longing, 1995), In Babylon (1997; In Babylon,
1999), and Modelvliegen (2001; The Dream Room, 2002)
seriously explore the emotional entanglement of children of
Holocaust survivors, a theme also explored by Wanda Reisel
(1955– ) in her novel Het beloofde leven (1995).
Arnon Grunberg (1973– ) has been called the most interesting
young author in the Dutch language. He made his
debut with the novel Blauwe Maandagen (1994; Blue Mondays,
1996). Grunberg moved to New York in the 1990s, but has continued
to write in Dutch and concern himself with Dutch so-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 71