Albert Cornelis Baantjer

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Appie Baantjer (left) 1979

Albert Cornelis (Appie) Baantjer (born September 16, 1923 in Urk ; † August 29, 2010 in Alkmaar ) was a Dutch author of crime novels .

resume

Baantjer grew up in an Orthodox Calvinist family and had ten siblings. It was 1945 in Amsterdam policeman and joined in 1953 the "recherche", the criminal investigation department of the capital, at. Since 1965 he has written a book or two about Detective Inspector De Cock every year, about 70 episodes in his life. Baantjer last lived in Medemblik . In 2003 he received the highest award of the Genootschap van Nederlandstalige Misdaadauteurs (GNM), the GNM Meesterprijs, in recognition of long years of meritorious efforts in crime literature . In 2007 his wife Marretje died.

Works

AC Baantjer's crime novels are among the most popular in this genre in the Netherlands. Baantjer did not intend to write literature , and the stories do not have a literary level either: they are to be classified as reading for entertainment. A De Cock story is also pleasant, easy reading for those who are not very advanced in studying the Dutch language .

The main character is always the 60-year-old detective Jurriën de Cock . His assistant is always the far less experienced Dick Vledder , an occasional awkward young man. They are often reprimanded by their boss, Commissioner Buitendam , who attaches great importance to compliance with the rules, but go their own way and, as it turns out at the end of the book, which is only about 100 pages long, almost every time right. The stories mostly take place in downtown Amsterdam , occasionally in Belgium . De Cock's outdated police headquarters on Warmoesstraat really existed until around 1995, but still exists in the Baantjer books.

Several themes are repeated in the De Cock stories, often literally:

  • There is a murder. De Cock (name with COCK please!) Gropes in the dark, and only after the perpetrator has committed two or three more murders is he caught by De Cock and Vledder. To do this, De Cock sets a trap for the perpetrator by forcing him to attempt another murder.
  • De Cock always visits the nasty pub owned by the landlord Smalle Lowietje to drink a cognac . The old but not unsympathetic landlord, himself a petty criminal, knows many people from the Amsterdam underworld and secretly passes information on to De Cock. Because murder and manslaughter are repugnant to him.
  • If De Cock doesn't see a way out, he gets violent cramps in his feet.
  • De Cock illegally gives himself and Vledder access to a crime scene or other house by using one of a bundle of false keys (a gift from a former burglar). If he is caught by the homeowner, De Cock will lie to him that the door was open.
  • De Cock is always late in the office in the morning and then meets Vledder, who is busy behind the typewriter (later: the computer).
  • De Cock always has violent arguments with his boss Buitendam, which end with the fact that he expelled him with the words: "Get out, De Cock!"
  • De Cock teaches Vledder a lot about his youth in Urk : history, the Bible or other religions and cultures. This shows that the figure De Cock is strongly autobiographical.

Baantjer subsequently processed De Cock en moord into brons themes and names from the Nibelungenlied .

The topics from the De Cock stories were processed into a television crime series called "Baantjer". But the stories are always different from those in the books.

About 25 Baantjer stories have been translated into English . The books were published by the publishing house “De Fontein” (Dutch for: The Fountain) in Baarn .

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Commons : Albert Cornelis Baantjer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Baantjer, Albert Cornelis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Baantjer, Appie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch crime novelist and policeman
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Document
DATE OF DEATH August 29, 2010
Place of death Alkmaar