Jan Campert

Jan Remco Theodoor Campert (Spijkenisse, August 15, 1902 – January 12, 1943)[1] was a journalist, theater critic and writer who lived in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. During the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II Campert was arrested for aiding the Jews. He was held in the Neuengamme concentration camp, where he died.

Jan Campert
Memorial for Jan Campert by Helen Ferdinand, Spijkenisse.
text reads:
A cell is barely two meter long
and little two meter wide
smaller though, is the plot of land,
I do not know as yet,
but where I will rest in anonymity,
like me my friends,
we were eighteen all together,
none will see the dawn.

Campert is best known for his poem "Het lied der achttien dooden" ("The Song of the Eighteen Dead"), describing the execution of 18 resistance workers (15 resistance fighters and 3 communists) by the German occupier. Written in 1941 and based on an account published in Het Parool, the poem was clandestinely published in 1943 as a poetry card ("rijmprent") by what would become publishing house De Bezige Bij[2] to raise money to hide Jewish children.

He was the father of novelist and poet Remco Campert.

The Jan Campert Prize is named after him.

References
  1. DBNL auteur – Jan Campert
  2. Hubben, Hub. (May 14, 2004). "Illegaal was beter dan clandestien". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved July 21, 2009.

Further reading
  • Hans Renders, Wie weet slaag ik in de dood. Biografie van Jan Campert. De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam 2004.
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