author
M. H. Van Campen
1874–1942
A Dutch writer and critic with a strong social-realist streak, he wrote vividly about Jewish life in Amsterdam and about literature’s place in everyday society. His life and work carry the weight of a rich literary culture cut short by the Holocaust.
2 Audiobooks
Over literatuur Critisch en didactisch
by M. H. Van Campen
Over literatuur Critisch en didactisch, tweede bundel
by M. H. Van Campen
About the author
Born in Amsterdam on July 1, 1874, Michel Herman van Campen was a Dutch writer and literary critic. Reference sources describe him as originally trained as a diamond worker before he turned to literature, and they note that his first literary book, Bikoerim (1903), was a collection of sketches of Amsterdam Jewish life.
Over the years, he published critical and didactic essays on Dutch and Jewish literature in periodicals including De Gids, De Kroniek, and Het Volk. His writing is often described as social-realist, which helps explain the direct, grounded feel of his work.
Van Campen died in Auschwitz on September 14, 1942. Some biographical records also preserve details of his family life in Amsterdam, including his marriage to Duifje Houthakker in 1909, making his story feel not only literary but deeply human.