Jaap Meijer (18 November 1912 – 9 July 1993) was a Dutch
Jewish historian, and poet. He wrote his poetry under the pseudonym Saul van Messel.
Biography
Meijer was born Jakob Meijer on 18 November 1912 in
Winschoten,
Netherlands, and was raised in the
Orthodox Jewish tradition.
At the age of 10, his father died, and it was decided to send him to the in
Amsterdam to become a
rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...
. During this period, he was involved in the
zionist movement.
Meijer graduated from the seminary in 1938,
but decided that he did not want to become a rabbi, and continued to study history at the
University of Amsterdam.
had started and the Netherlands had been
invaded
An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...
, but Meijer had other things on his mind. On 20 June 1940, he married Liesje Voet, which caused controversy with his orthodox family, because her father was active as a
trade unionist.
Meijer was also working on his
thesis about
Isaac da Costa's conversion to Christianity. On 2 October 1941, he received his
doctorate. From 1941 until 1943, he taught history at the .
One of his students was
Anne Frank. On 14 February 1943, his first child
Ischa was born.
In June 1943, Meijer and his family were sent to
Westerbork transit camp.
On 15 February 1944, they were moved to
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. When British troops neared the camp, they were put on the so-called
Lost Train, trains heading East with no clear destination. The train was captured by the
Red Army in
Tröbitz
Tröbitz is a municipality in the Elbe-Elster district, in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany.
History
From 1815 to 1947, Tröbitz was part of the Prussian Province of Brandenburg. From 1952 to 1990, it was part of the Bezirk Cottbus of East Germ ...
on 23 April 1945. Meijer and family managed to survive the war.
In 1946, his thesis was reprinted as ''Isaac da Costa's weg naar het Christendom'' As an author, he started to focus on the pre-war Jewish history in the Netherlands, and was known for his sharp criticisms. In 1951, Meijer taught history at the University of Amsterdam.
The
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
worried Meijer, and in 1953, he accepted an offer to become rabbi in
Paramaribo,
Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
. He did not stay long, and returned to the Netherlands in 1955.
In 1967, Meijer started to publish poetry in ''Kentering'' using the
pseudonym Saul van Messel. Poetry started to become a means of escape from his Jewish history.
During the 1970s, he started to write many poems in both Dutch and Hebrew.
In 1969, he wrote ''Vrouger of loater'' in the
Gronings dialect for which he was awarded the in 1984.
Meijer died on 9 July 1993 in
Heemstede, at the age of 80.
References
Bibliography
*
External links
Jaap Meijer at the Digital Library for Dutch Literature(in Dutch)
Jaap Meijer at the Joodse Bibliotheek(in Dutch)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meijer, Jaap
1912 births
1993 deaths
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp survivors
20th-century Dutch historians
Dutch Jews
Dutch poets
Dutch male writers
People from Winschoten
Surinamese rabbis
University of Amsterdam alumni
Westerbork transit camp survivors