Menno ter Braak

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Menno ter Braak

Menno ter Braak (born January 26, 1902 in Eibergen , † May 14, 1940 in The Hague ) was a Dutch writer .

Life

Menno ter Braak's parents were the doctor Ernst Gerrit ter Braak and his wife Geertruida Alida Huizinga; Johan Huizinga was his cousin. He grew up in Tiel . He studied Dutch and history at the University of Amsterdam and in Berlin. 1928 received his doctorate with a dissertation on Emperor Otto III. Ideal and practice in the early Middle Ages . After that he worked as a teacher for a few years. Influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche and Oswald Spengler , he turned away from Christianity .

As a student, Ter Braak wrote for the satirical magazine Propria Cures and was interested in film and its aesthetics . In 1927 he founded the Nederlandsche Filmliga with Joris Ivens, Henrik Scholte, Leendert Jurriaan (Leo) Jordaan and Constant van Wessem . With Edgar du Perron and Maurice Roelants , he founded the literary magazine Forum in 1931 . From 1933 until his death he was editor of the features section of the liberal daily Het Vaderland in The Hague. Ter Braak made contemporary German literature known in the Netherlands through his highly acclaimed reviews, especially the literature created in exile: Thomas Mann , with whom he was friends, Jakob Wassermann , Lion Feuchtwanger , Alfred Döblin and Konrad Merz .

Ter Braak warned early on of National Socialism . In 1934 he joined the Comité van Waakzaamheid (Vigilance Committee) and was involved in the anti-fascist movement in the Netherlands. On the sixth day of the German attack on the neutral Netherlands as part of the western campaign , on the day of the Dutch surrender, Ter Braak died by suicide after he had failed to escape to Great Britain.

His grave is in the Dutch cemetery Oud Eik en Duinen in The Hague .

Works (selection)

Writings on politics, religion and philosophy

  • Het carnaval of the burgers , 1930
  • Afscheid van domineesland , 1931
  • Demasqué der schoonheid , 1932
  • Politicus zonder partij , 1934
  • Het nationaalsocialisme als rancuneleer , 1937
  • Van oude en nieuwe christenen , 1937
  • Douwes Dekker en Multatuli , 1937
  • De Augustijner monnik en zijn trouwe duivel , 1938 (about Martin Luther )

Novels

  • Hampton Court , 1931
  • Dr. Dumay reads out , 1933

His writings and his extensive correspondence are published by the Stichting Menno ter Braak .

literature

  • Léon Hanssen: Menno ter Braak (1902-1940). Life and work of a lateral thinker. Waxmann, Münster 2011. ISBN 978-3-8309-2464-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Die kleine Enzyklopädie , Encyclios-Verlag, Zurich 1950. Volume 1, p. 220.
  2. ↑ Léon Hanssen: Menno ter Braak (1902-1940) . Waxmann, Münster 2011. pp. 86-94.
  3. ↑ Digitized version of the dissertation (PDF; 1.2 MB)
  4. ↑ a b c J.HW Veenstra: Braak, Menno ter (1902-1940) . In: Biographical Woordenboek van Nederland, 1880-2000 .
  5. ↑ Short biography on the website of the Stichting Menno ter Braak
  6. ↑ Léon Hanssen: Menno ter Braak (1902-1940) . Waxmann, Münster 2011. pp. 308-315.
personal data
SURNAME Braak, Menno ter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 26, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Eibergen
DATE OF DEATH May 14, 1940
Place of death The hague