![Theo Thijssen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Theo_Thijssen.jpg)
Theodorus Johannes Thijssen (
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
, 16 June 1879 – Amsterdam, 23 December 1943) was a Dutch writer, teacher and
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
. He is best known for the book ''Kees de Jongen''.
Biography
Theo Thijssen, the oldest child out of six, grew up in the Amsterdam suburb of
Jordaan
The Jordaan is a neighbourhood of the city of Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is part of the borough of Amsterdam-Centrum. The area is bordered by the Singelgracht canal and the neighbourhood of Frederik Hendrikbuurt to the west; the Prinsengracht to ...
where his father had a small shoe-shop. His family was not wealthy, and after his father died when he was eight they moved and his mother started a grocery where he and his younger brother had to help to get some income for the family. After a tough entrance exam with a scholarship he was allowed on the ''Rijkskweekschool voor onderwijzers'', a college to become a teacher, in
Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...
. After his study was completed he became teacher from 1898 until 1921 at several schools in Amsterdam.
In 1905 he and college friend
Peter Bol founded the magazine ''De Nieuwe School'' in which he wrote a lot of articles with criticism about teaching methods, learning books, read books and child books. He also wrote some fragments about a fantasy rich boy Kees, that would later become his most famous novel ''Kees de Jongen''. In this book he enriched the Dutch language with the word "zwembadpas", a quick way of walking that Kees had developed. This word became so legendary that the Theo Thijssen Museum organized the day of the "zwembadpas".
In 1906 he married Johanna Maria Zeegerman, craft teacher, with whom he had one son. After her death in 1908 he remarried in 1909 with Geertje Dade, with whom he had a daughter and two sons.
In 1921 Thijssen became salaried director of the Dutch Association of Teachers. He also became editor from "De Bode" (a magazine about the working conditions of teachers) and "School en huis" (a magazine about education). In the magazine about education he wrote again about Kees and made it a more ongoing story. This would later become the well-known novel ''Kees de jongen''. Although Thijssen always said the story was fiction there are various similarities with his own childhood.
Just like his father Thijssen harboured socialistic sympathies from an early age, although he only became member of the
Sociaal Democratische Arbeiders Partij
The Social Democratic Workers' Party ( nl, Sociaal-Democratische Arbeiderspartij, SDAP) was a Dutch socialist political party existing from 1894 to 1946, and a predecessor of the social democratic Labour Party.
History 1893–1904
The SDAP was f ...
(SDAP), a social party in the Netherlands, in 1912. From 1933 until 1940 he also was member of the
House of Representatives of the Netherlands
The House of Representatives (, pronounced ; commonly referred to as the ', literally "Second Chamber of the States General") is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General, the other one being the Senate. ...
for this party and from 1935 until 1941 member of the Amsterdam city council, also for the SDAP.
In December 1943 he had a series of serious diseases and eventually died from the effects of a stroke.
Legacy
The literary award
Theo Thijssen-prijs
The Theo Thijssen-prijsSometimes spelled ''Theo Thijssenprijs''. (Dutch for Theo Thijssen Prize) is a Dutch literary award awarded once every three years to a Dutch author of children's literature or young adult fiction. The award is not given f ...
is named after him. There are also a number of schools named after him, including the Theo Thijssen school in Amsterdam.
Bibliography
*''Barend Wels'' (1908)
*''Jongensdagen'' (1909)
*''Taal en schoolmeester'' (1911)
*''Sommenboek voor de volksschool'' (1912)
*''Cijfers'' (1913)
*''Cijferboek voor de volksschool'' (1913)
*''
Kees de jongen'' (1923)
*''Schoolland'' (1925)
*''
De gelukkige klas'' (1926)
*''Het grijze kind'' (1927)
*''De examenidioot of De kinderexamens van 1928'' (1929)
*''Egeltje. Een bundel vrolijk proza'' (1929)
*''Het taaie ongrief'' (1932)
*''De fatale gaping'' (1934)
*''Een bonte bundel'' (1935)
*''In de ochtend van het leven'' (1941)
*''Wat onze kinderen bedreigt'' (undated)
References
External links
www.theothijssenschoolamsterdam.nlwww.theothijssenmuseum.nlwww.dbnl.org*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thijssen, Theo
1879 births
1943 deaths
20th-century Dutch novelists
20th-century Dutch male writers
Dutch male novelists
Dutch socialists
Dutch political activists
Dutch Esperantists
Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands)
Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands) politicians
Writers from Amsterdam