Jo Elsendoorn (1915-2014)

Private archive of writer, organiser and Holland Festival editor Elsendoorn, consisting of dozens of binders, homemade books, photos, letters and documents regarding e.g. his war time, meetings with famous artists and writers etc.

Already at an early age Elsendoorn was interested in the making of books. In this archive e.g. several handwritten and drawn travel accounts from 1935/'36. His career did not always run smoothly, as appears from two letters of discharge at De Arbeiderspers: "wij menen, dat Uw werk en Uw kwaliteiten niet voldoende zijn voor een bestendiging van Uw functie. Ik verleen U dus bij dezen ontslag uit onze dienst" (with marginal annotation by Elsendoorn: 'Leve de intriges van Meijer Sluyser'). During the war he joins the resistance together with his wife, Riek Snel. They are arrested and both condemned to a concentration camp. He returns after the war; she does not. Elsendoorn writes about this in 1979 in the book "De Vermorzeling". Documents, photos and personal (love) letters from him and his wife and the manuscript of the book are all included in this archive. Also remarkable are the letters written at Kamp Vught. These include a moving love letter to Riek, in which he ardently wishes she is doing well and with at the top the line: "14 mei 1944, bewaren voor Riek". After the war, he marries again and starts a new, successful career with the Holland Festival (see lot 765 in this auction). All these years he writes and documents, including several unpublished books. In his position he meets many well-known writers and artists, of these also letters (such as one from Roland Holst) and photos are included in the collection, and a friendship album with e.g. signatures of Field-Marshal Montgomery and Beatrix. Elsendoorn kept producing to an advanced age with a wide interest for modern music, the Byzantine empire, and theatre. In his surviving memoirs in this archive, he often writes on meetings such as those with Heinrich Böll, Stijn Streuvels, Bomans who did not show up and apologised in person in horrible weather, and an extensive report of a meeting with then 87-year old Lodewijk van Deyssel at the Vondelpark in 1951.