Cornélie Huygens
Cornélie Lydie Huygens (born June 13, 1848 in Haarlemmerliede , † October 31, 1902 in Amsterdam ) was a Dutch women's rights activist , author and social democrat.
biography
Cornélie Huygens was the daughter of the entrepreneur Gerard Willem Otto Huygens (1822–?) And his wife Cornelia Adelaïde Henriette Elias (1824–1848), who was of noble descent. The mother died four weeks after the birth and the child was taken into the care of her unmarried aunt Jeanne Marie Huygens, a younger sister of the father. This belonged to the circle of friends of the free-spirited feminist actress Mina Kruseman , and so the girl came into contact with feminist ideas.
At first, Cornélie Huygens had a desire to become a singer, and Kruseman supported her. After a year and a half of singing lessons, Huygens realized that her singing talent was insufficient. Kruseman introduced her to the work of her friend and writer Multatuli and encouraged her to write feminist newspaper articles. She also ensured that Huygens first novel Hélène van Bentinck was published. Eight more romance novels followed, set in higher circles and secured financial independence for the unmarried Huygens and passed damning judgments on the literary critics. In addition, she wrote short stories, essays and translations in the following years. In her books, Huygens expressed her disapproval of middle-class women raised to be wealthy married. Rather, they should "roll up their sleeves" and prove through studies and work that they are not inferior to men. She herself propagated free love without marriage.
As early as 1892, Cornélie Huygens had campaigned within the framework of an Amsterdam women's committee to protect shop assistants against shop closings at 9 p.m. In the Algemeen Handelsblad , she called for long-term shop closing times at 8 p.m. The following year she became involved with socialist workers who had been imprisoned for political reasons. In 1896 she was one of the first women to become members of the newly founded Sociaal-Democratische Arbeiderspartij (SDAP). She regularly came into conflict with the leaders of the socialist movement and the fighters for women's suffrage, who, in their opinion, were not sufficiently committed to the interests of the workers . She tried to combine both movements, as emerged from her speech to the Vrije VrouwenVereniging (VVV) entitled Een woord aan de Nederlandsche vrouwen (1896). In 1898 she worked with the Nationale Tentoonstelling van Vrouwenarbeid in The Hague , organized a congress for female servants and took part in the founding of the alliance of servants in front of Elkaar .
Cornélie Huygens also dealt with Marxism . For them, this theory is not a dogma, but a method of thinking and research that can be applied to countless phenomena in history and society. Women from their own social circles resented her involvement; some of them withdrew from the Allen movement before Elkaar because they did not want to be with women from the lower classes there. On the other hand, parts of the labor movement ridiculed her as a "salon socialist" and given her mother the nickname rode freule ( red lady ) because of her mother's noble descent . Contributing to this assessment was the fact that she gave her lectures in dresses made of "silk and lace" and a "cloud of perfume," and a golden crown was printed on her business card.
In 1897, Cornélie Huygens published her novel Barthold Meryan , a key novel about the Dutch socialist movement in which the characters represented the various political positions. This novel was a success and had three editions in a short time. In 1901 the book was translated into German by Ignazius Bahlmann, which made Huygens famous in Germany. Bahlmann was a wealthy German entrepreneur who financially supported the socialist movement and acted as a contact person between the German and Dutch movements.
Two years later, Cornélie Huygens, now 54, surprised “friend and foe” by marrying Ignazius Bahlmann. He had divorced his wife, with whom he had four children, because of Huygens. Bahlmann's wife refused to consent to the divorce for a long time, and Huygens would have been willing to live with Bahlmann unmarried. Huygens wrote to a fellow party member: “Dat een man zo'n diep en rijk targeteleven kan hebben, wist ik tot dusverre niet. Nog less kon ik think dat zo'n geluk than ik thans know empty nog op mijn leeftijd voor mij put away. "(" I didn't know that a man can have such a deep and rich soul life. I could think even less that happiness as I know it now was reserved for me at my age. ")
The marriage between Cornélie Huygens and Ignazius Bahlmann took place on October 2, 1902 in Amsterdam. Less than four weeks later, Huygens committed suicide by drowning herself in the pond in Vondelpark across from her apartment. She left a farewell letter: “My Ignaz, I am leaving life without any hatred. Goodbye, darling, I'm going to Vondelpark. ”The exact reasons for her suicide remained unknown. There were suspicions that she had realized that she had violated her own principles by getting married. Jacob Israël de Haan gave another reason in a letter to Frederik van Eeden : Afterwards, Cornélie Huygens killed himself out of grief that Bahlmann had continued to have sexual contacts with his first wife during their four-year relationship.
Publications (selection)
- Uit den strijd des levens . Amsterdam 1884
- Regina . Amsterdam 1884
- Ellen . Amsterdam 1889
- Een huwelijk . Amsterdam 1892
- Hoogenoord , 2 volumes. Amsterdam 1892
- Zomer . Amsterdam 1895
- Socialisme en "féminisme" . Amsterdam 1898
- Barthold Meryan . Amsterdam 1898
- Darwin-Marx. Bernstein as bestrijder van a natural-philosophical empty . Amsterdam 1901
literature
- Jeroen Brouwers: De laatste deur. Essays on zelfmoord in de Nederlandstalie letteren . De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam 1983, ISBN 90-295-0804-3 .
Web links
- Cornélie Huygens: Barthold Meryan . In: digital library voor de Nederlandse letters. Retrieved April 25, 2018 (Dutch).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Huygens, Cornélie Lydie (1848-1902). In: resources.huygens.knaw.nl. Retrieved April 11, 2018 (Dutch).
- ↑ Brouwers, De laatste deur , p. 133.
- ↑ Brouwers, De laatste deur , p. 131.
- ↑ Brouwers, De laatste deur , p. 132.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Huygens, Cornélie |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Huygens, Cornélie Lydie (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch feminist, author and social democrat |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 13, 1848 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Haarlemmerlied |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 31, 1902 |
| Place of death | Amsterdam |