Hans Koldewijn 

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BIOGRAPHY

The literary heritage of Hans Koldewijn exists of five poems and a fairytale, which were published posthumously in literary magazine 'De Nieuwe Gids' (1908, p. 1265-1274), with an introduction by Willem Kloos. One of these poems was later published in Nieuwste Nederlandsche Lyriek. Bloemlezing. Verzameld door Laurens van der Waals (Most Contemporary Dutch Poetry. An Anthology. Compiled by Laurens van der Waals), H.D. Tjeenk Willink & Zn, Haarlem, 1910.

Hendrik Adriaan Carel Willem Koldewijn, or Hans for short, was born, as was his twin-sister Bertha, on 2nd September 1887 in Utrecht, as the son of maths teacher Hendrikus Koldewijn (1850-Hilversum, 1911) and Adriana Carolina Willemina Höfelt (1852-1948). There was also an older brother, Albertus Johannes, and an older sister, Henriëtte Constance. Sister Henriëtte was married to literary man Laurens van der Waals (1885-1968), editor of the anthology of 1910 and presumably the man who showed Koldewijn's small heritage to Willem Kloos.

Hans Koldewijn moved from Utrecht to Tiel on 13th June 1907. There he lived in Z.C. de Boer's house, who was headmaster of the City Lyceum in Tiel. From a pencilled note in the Tiel registry it appears that "on 22nd February 1908 he presumably drowned in the Waal river". A few months later, on 22nd September, his name was officially erased from the Tiel registry.

Willem Kloos (in 'De Nieuwe Gids', 1908, p. 1263-1264): "If the pressures of work hadn't prevented it, I would have long since done this, i.e. dedicate a word of respectful memory to a twenty-year-old poet, who while sailing on the Waal river on 11th February, drowned. This altogether sad accident that in one surge depleted us of a young man's life and a great hope for the future, in a way reminds one of Shelley's fate, who also, despite warnings, sailed out to become the victim of his own courage or recklessness. (…) The subconscious will to stay alive did not run strong within him. He was a melancholy man, and therefore it was not so much a loss to himself to die, but all the more so to the world, which lost his later and almost certainly more mature work through this."

Please browse www.google.com for more information about Hans Koldewijn.

with thanks to Peter Koldewijn