Jacob Hiegentlich was born on 30 April 1907 in Roermond. His parents - wholesaler in confection goods Sallie Hiegentlich and his mother Rosalie Egger, deceased in 1927 - had five children. Four of them would, like their father, not survive the war.
Jacob Hiegentlich grew up in catholic Roermond in, as he once himself described it, "a confusing mixture of Roman-Catholic and Jewish culture". He visited the Episcopal College of Roermond, but he did not complete his education at this school, since he struggled with the subject of maths. At the age of 17, Jacob Hiegentlich wrote 'Het zotte vleesch. Roman van 't Limburgse volk' under the pseudonym David Jozua de Castro. In it, his family doctor Laurent Stijn, a friend of his father, was portrayed in a not very flattering way. His father Hiegentlich subsequently bought all printed editions.
On the insistence of his father, he started a course in Amsterdam for a secondary school teaching certificate in Dutch. He successfully completed this education on 17 November 1930.
In Amsterdam, he joined the Dutch Zionist Student Organisation (NZSO). He moved around artistic and bohemian circles and was a member of the so-called ’Reynderskring‘, named after the famous pub at the Leidseplein.
In 1932, he became teacher at the Theosofisch Lyceum ’Drafna‘ in Naarden. The whole-class teaching system didn't fit well with his strong preference for individualism. From the end of 1935 onwards, he dedicated himself exclusively to literary work.
He remained a fervent supporter of Zionism. Within Zionism, he opted for the extreme and militant wing of the Revisionism led by Jabotinsky. He wrote many articles in general Jewish and Zionist publications, for example Baderech, Hatikwah (the official publication of the NZSO) and Ha‘Ischa. Particularly in the Joodsche Wachter (the official publication of the Dutch Zionist League), he wrote articles against the rising national-socialism.
He wrote several book reviews. He had a great deal of admiration for Jacob Israël de Haan and for Carry van Bruggen. He held lectures about literature and Judaism.He published several novels, novellas, essays and poems.
On the evening of 15 May 1940, Jacob Hiegentlich swallowed poison. He was taken to the Wilhelmina hospital in Amsterdam in an unconscious state and he died there on Saturday, 18 May 1940, at the age of 33. On the façade of his parental home at the Markt 27 in Roermond, there is a memorial plaque for Jacob Hiegentlich, ’Writer from Roermond‘.
About Jacob Hiegentlich, Siegfried E. van Praag said, among other things:
’Whenever I go to Amsterdam, I miss him. He can no longer be found in Reijnder's artists' pub at the Leidsche Plein, nor in his room at the old canalside house. He no longer pours Bols in the liquor glass of his coincidental landlady while playing a typical, little known record on his gramophone. And he no longer holds heavy cigars in the lips of that eternally boyish face. (
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Granted, Hiegentlich's dress sense was conspicuous through his tendency for dandyism, his yearning for the boulevard elegance of the old days. Despite the feminine side of his inner life which he probably indulged in this way, he loved bravado. His sense for bravado and his conscious Zionism forbid him to hide his personality and his Jewish background.‘
Siegfried E. van Praag, ’Ter herinnering aan mijn vriend Jacob Hiegentlich‘, in: Nieuw Israëlietisch Weekblad, 11 April 1947
Laura Schot, ’Geheid erfgoed‘, Nieuw Israëlietisch Weekblad, 4 July 2003
C. Ypes, Jacob Hiegentlich 1907-1940. Een joods artist tussen twee oorlogen. Inleiding en bloemlezing uit zijn werk (Amsterdam, z.j.)
See for additional information:
P.J.A. Nissen and W. Kusters, Jacob Hiegentlich 1907-1940. Een Joods dichter in Roermond (Roermond 1992); R. Fuks-Mansfeld (red.), Joden in Nederland in de twintigste eeuw. Een biografisch woordenboek (Utrecht 2007) 136
This person is commemorated on a memorial in Roermond. More information on this memorial can be found (in Dutch) on the website of the Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei.