Dutch poet, columnist and writer from a noted family.
His parents were journalist and poet Jan Campert (1902-1943) and the actress and drama translator Wilhelmina “Joekie” Broedelet (1903-1996). They divorced on 19 December 1932 when Remco was three. He then stayed with his mother, first in The Hague, later in Amsterdam (1941).
His father died in the Nacht und Nebel of Nazi Germany. After his death in World War II 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. Also his mother was often away for work, he was sent to stay with family, including his grandfather, the writer and actor Johan W. Broedelet (1877-1946).
During the war Remco visited the Lyceum in The Hague. In 1941 his house and their surroundings were destroyed when the Germans dug tank ditches. They expected the invasion at the coast of Holland. In 1942, Remco was sent to the Moody family in Epe, friends 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 anthology Hotel Morandi Scenes (1983).
After the war, 16-year-old Remco moved to Amsterdam in September 1945. He visited the Lyceum, where he met his life-long friend Rudy Kousbroek (1929-2010). Kousbroek spent his youth in Japanese detention camps. Both talented writers became editors of the school paper Halo (Het Amsterdams Lyce‹sten Orgaan), went to Paris (1949, 1950) and in 1950 founded the literary magazine Braak. Remco left the Gymnasium before getting a diploma, as he decided 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 anthology Vogels vliegen toch. He kept on writing poetry, until the 1970 anthology Betere tijden, after which he was struck with writer’s block, until 1978, when the anthology Theatre appeared.
In 1953 he received the Reina Prinsen Geerligs award for “Berchtesgaden” and in 1955 the Poetry award of the city of Amsterdam for the poem “Gedicht met een moraal” (poem without morale). In 1956, he won the Jan Campert award for “Met man en muis en Het huis waarin ik woonde” (with man and mice and the house I lived in) and in 1958, the Anne Frank award for “Vogels vliegen toch” (birds do fly anyway).
However, 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 story anthology Alle dagen feest (Party all days, 1955), and the Het leven is vurrukkulluk (Life is vurrukkulluk, written in six weeks, 1961) which became a Dutch classic.
The ’60s became the “prosaic” years of Remco Campert. His style, as a keen observer able to grasp the seriousness of life in a slightly ironic tone, finally emerged.
In 1949 at age 19 he married the artist Freddy Rutgers, a girl from Wassenaar. Freddy left him in 1954 for Gerrit Kouwenaar. On 20 December 1957 he married Fritzi Harmsen van Beek. Their house became a salon for writers and poets. At the end of 1958, they divorced and Campert returned to Amsterdam. In 1960 his daughter Emmanuelle was born to Lucia van de Berg. They married in 1961 and in 1963 their daughter Cleo Campert was born. In 1964 they moved to Antwerp; in 1966 he returned to Amsterdam alone. There he met the art connoisseur and gallery owner Deborah Wolf (born in Kansas City, Missouri, 1938). They lived together till 1980, then went their own way, only to marry again in 1996.
Remco Campert died on 4 July 2022 at age 92 in Amsterdam.
Link to Wikipedia