Our Dutch Friend A. den Doolaard by Misho Yuzmeski

OUR DUTCH FRIEND A. DEN DOOLAARD

Original title: Нашипт хпландски пријател А. ден Дплард Translated from the Macedonian by Misho Yuzmeski Proofreading and editing: Dr. Michael Seraphinoff (USA) Cover design and page layout: Misho Yuzmeski Photographers: -

Atanas Talevski (Macedonia): page 12;

Albert Koevoet (The Netherlands): p. 21;

Misho Yuzmeski (Macedonia): p. 32, 33, 34, 86;

Cas Oorthuys (The Netherlands): p. 28;

Archives (unknown photographers)

First printing of the English edition: May 2012 Printed in Macedonia

------------------------------------------------------------------------------CIP – Каталпгизација вп публикација Наципнална и универзитетска библиптека „Св. Климент Охридски“, Скппје 821.112.5.09 Дплард, А. ден 929 Дплард, А. ден YUZMESKI, Misho Our Dutch friend A. den Doolaard / Misho Yuzmeski; [translated from Macedonian by Misho Yuzmeski; photographers Atanas Talevski...[и др.]. - Охрид: НУ Библиптека „Григпр Прличев“, 2012. - 110 стр.: илустр.; 20 см Превпд на делптп: Нашипт хпландски пријател А. ден Дплард / Мишп Јузмески. – Фуснпти кпн текстпт. – Слика и белешка за автпрпт: стр. 109 ISBN 978-9989-911-49-1 I. Јузмески, Мишп види Yuzmeski, Misho a) Дплард, А. ден (1901-1994) – Критики и тплкуваоа COBISS.MK-ID 91284746

Misho Yuzmeski

OUR DUTCH FRIEND A. DEN DOOLAARD

NATIONAL INSTITUTION LIBRARY “GRIGOR PRLICHEV” OHRID, 2012

TO OUR DUTCH FRIENDS VOOR ONZE NEDERLANDSE VRIENDEN

ISBN 978-9989-911-49-1 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author`s rights. ÂŠ 2012 by Misho Yuzmeski

TABLE OF CONTENTS 07

The Revelation of A. den Doolaard (Introduction)

013 024 033

A. DEN DOOLAARD Wanderer, writer and journalist The Revealing of Macedonia Recognition in Ohrid

037 046 054

THE WEDDING OF THE SEVEN GYPSIES The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies Ohrid Love Legend The Wedding in Ohrid

067

EXPRESS TO THE EAST To the East and Back with the Orient Express

101 102

THE LEGACY OF A. DEN DOOLAARD A. den Doolaard - Quotes Books by A. den Doolaard

108 109

Sources The Author of this Book

THE REVELATION OF A. DEN DOOLAARD (Introduction) I never met him in person. It is possible that we passed each other in the narrow streets of Ohrid or on some train in the Netherlands, but I would not have recognized him then, although people had been telling me about him for years. My first encounter with the name A. den Doolaard happened in the 80`s of the last century in conversation with a Dutch tourist on a visit to Macedonia. Another Dutchman told me that â&#x20AC;&#x153;...though the title of his book about Ohrid mentions a wedding of Gypsies, actually it is not a wedding of Gypsies, and they appear...â&#x20AC;? Other Dutch people also told me about him. Quite consciously the unknown writer became very familiar to me, at least as a name, and I quickly felt him as someone long known to me, and so for a time he no longer aroused my curiosity. Seemingly all doubts were cleared up: the name of the author was known to me, I knew more or less what is written there in his book about Ohrid... And, accordingly, I had nothing more to think about?! Later I had much wider access to Dutch literature. That is why, having so many other books around me, The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies disappeared from my field of interest. For years various Dutch people had recounted to me its contents, and I felt as if I had read it, while I had not even touched it. The strongest stimulus to truly read this book came from Jan Kaandorp, a pastor from the city of Tilburg. Thanks to his commitment, I received a copy of the book in July 1994, approximately one month after the death of its author. On one of the first pages there was a dedication writ-

A. den Doolaard in 1928 on a drawing by Jan Franken â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Pzn Collection Literary Museum, The Hague

ten by Jan Kaandorp, whom I never met again, nor did I ever hear anything more about him. Many years later I held the book in my hands and read his dedication, while in my thoughts I returned to the encounters and talks with Jan Kaandorp. Because of the pleasant feelings evoked by those memories, I wrote the essay The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies2 (Svadbata na se1

Joannes Petrus Josephus (Jan) Franken Pzn. (18. 11. 1896 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 27. 02. 1977) was a Dutch artist who lived and worked in The Hague. 2 See p. 37 of this book.

dumte Cigani / Свадбата на седумте Цигани). I published the article and… I didn't feel at all satisfied! I felt that I should have written more, as if I had left out something very important.

A reflection from the past: wooden boats on Lake Ohrid

In early 2006 there was a public discussion in Ohrid about setting up a monument to A. den Doolaard. Then it came out that many people had never heard of the writer and posed questions about his significance for the city. Many asked “why set up a monument to a stranger, totally unknown”. I felt I could help in resolving these concerns and offered the only Ohrid newspaper3 an opportunity to publish my story on the Dutch writer and his importance for our city. I received a call from the executive editor Nikola Manevski4. We have known each other for some time and 3

Ohridski Novini (Ohrid News) was a free periodical issued in Ohrid from 2003 to 2010. 4 Nikola Manevski (1950 - 2010) was a journalist at Radio Ohrid, correspondent for the Belgrade newspapers Borba (Struggle) and Vechernye Novosti (Evening News), and the founding first executive editor of Ohridski Novini (Ohrid News). His last years of life he

have had cordial relations. Therefore, he spoke rather bluntly. He said: “Maybe we do not know much about A. den Doolaard, but let us say we know who he was and that he has some significance for Ohrid... What we do not know is the contents of the book. Now we are setting up a monument to the author for having written a book related to Ohrid, and yet we do not know what he has written in it...” Responding to his request I wrote my second story about the Dutch friend of Macedonia and his book The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies, under the title Ohrid Love Legend (Ohridska ljubovna legenda / Охридска љубовна легенда)5. Immediately afterward the monument arrived and the first Macedonian translation of The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies. Despite all of this, it seems there was no clear answer to the question: who was A. den Doolaard and why did he deserve such an honor, the first and for now the only monument to him, to be located in Ohrid, far away from his native country. Therefore, I published two more articles: The Wedding in Ohrid (Svadbata vo Ohrid/Свадбата во Охрид)6 and To the East and Back with the Orient Express (Na istok i nazad so Orient Ekspres / На исток и назад со Ориент Експрес)7. This book is another attempt to acquaint the public with the man who has revealed Macedonia to the Dutch people, mostly and above all through his novels Express to the East and The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies. Ohrid, 1 January 2012

spent working for the Municipality of Ohrid, as head of the Public Relations Department. In 2010 one of his works was posthumously published, the novella Feelings Untitled. 5 See p. 46 of this book. 6 See p. 54 of this book. 7 See p. 67 of this book.

A. den Doolaard (1901 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1994)

WANDERER, WRITER AND JOURNALIST In the beginning of the 20th century the Netherlands still reflected the zenith of its territorial expansion and the flourishing of its broad social development from its Golden Age8. Along with its part of the historic Low Countries9 in Europe, the Kingdom ruled the thousands of islands of Indonesia and some smaller colonies in other parts of the world, as well, at the time. They were under the crown of Queen Wilhelmina,10 who came to the royal throne in 1898, at 18 years of age. Because of her youthful beauty and obviously great “dowry” of colonies and proud history, many noble men in Europe wished to take her for a bride. Of course, there could only be one of them, and the Queen had the right to choose, and that she did. On 7 February, 1901 for most Dutch people the event of the day is the royal wedding: Queen Wilhelmina marries German duke Heinrich Mecklenburg - Schwerin11.

Golden Ages (Dutch: De Gouden Eeuw) is a period in Dutch history, which mostly takes in the 16 th century when the development of trade, science, art and the navy makes the Netherlands one of the most developed countries of Europe. At that time the Dutch Empire was born and grew to include within its boundaries territories in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South and North America. 9 Low Countries (Dutch: De Lage Landen) is a common historical name for the territories of the Netherlands, Belgium (once part of the Netherlands), Luxembourg, as well as smaller parts of northern France and western Germany. 10 Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria (1880–1962), grandmother of present Queen Beatrix. 11 Heinrich Mecklenburg-Schwerin or Heinrich Wladimir Albrecht Ernst (1876–1934) was born in Schwerin, northern Germany. On 6

Quite predictably for the moment, the citizens of the Netherlands have an interesting topic for conversation. Despite the grandeur of the event, for some Dutch people there are more important and even more joyful events of the day, with much more meaning in their lives. This applies to the minister of the Dutch Reformed Church12 from the town of Heino, Cornelis Spoelstra13 and his wife Alida Hunningher14. While the attention of most Dutch is focused on the marriage of their queen, these two are preoccupied with quite a different event, which is also more important to them. The same day in the city of Zwolle, daylight sees the birth of their son, who will many years later describe a very different wedding from that of the Queen. On 14 April, 1901 the newborn is baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church in Heino. He receives the name Cornelis Johannes George Spoelstra, which later he will replace with the â&#x20AC;&#x153;more appropriateâ&#x20AC;? and more remarkable pen name A. den Doolaard. If for no other reason, this name is much shorter and more original, and therefore easier to remember. It is also much more appropriate in terms of the character of the person who carries it15. The father Cornelis Spoelstra is constantly on the move. For a long time he worked as a priest in Africa, and soon after the birth of his son he gets a new job: as a pastor and church historian of the Dutch Reformed Church, and he February 1901 he received the title Prince Hendrik of the Netherlands. 12 Dutch Reformed Church (Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk or NHK) is the name for one of the protestant churches that arose in Europe during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. It existed from 1571 to 2004, when along with two other Protestant churches (Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Netherlands) they formed the new Protestant Church in the Netherlands. 13 Cornelis Spoelstra (20. 09. 1860 - 12. 10. 1918) 14 Alida Hunningher (07. 12. 1865 - 21. 08. 1949) 15 Dutch: doolaard = wanderer

must go back to Africa. From the fourth to the seventh year of life, the young Cornelis Spoelstra, with his family, lives in South Africa. Because of his father's work, the son lives mainly in a female environment in the company of his mother and two sisters. But he never becomes a spoiled brat, and the absence of his father does not prevent him from maturing into an independent person with a strong character. In 1908 the Spoelstra family moves back to the Netherlands, this time to the capital of the kingdom16, thus becoming true fellow citizens of Queen Wilhelmina. With her they share the same city, but their paths in life mostly diverge. Here, in The Hague, the young Cornelis attends the Christian High School and during his five-year education major events occur that will determine his future development as a person and writer. The 17-year-old Spoelstra decided to completely break with Church and religion, while retaining the Christian ethics and norms of conduct which will guide his entire life. At that time, according to his own words, he begins to write his first verses. One year after his father`s death, young Spoelstra in 1919 finishes school and goes to work. So he takes the first steps towards full independence. For three months he works in a bank, and then finds new work, this time for the Batavian Petrol Company (Bataafse Petroleummaatschappij (BPM)) in The Hague. He works as a book keeper, but on the final school exam one of the weakest school grades he has is exactly in book keeping, and obviously this work does not find a place in his heart. The book keeping job is too boring and tedious for his restless spirit. He decides to occupy himself with something else, something other than the material, that will bring greater emotional satisfaction. He spends his spare time mostly in 16

Under the Constitution of the Netherlands, the capital is Amsterdam, which is also the largest city, and financial and cultural center of the country. However, the major institutions of the country, such as parliament, government and the royal court are located in The Hague.

reading good literature, writing poetry, and socializing with the writers Albert Kuyle17 and Jan Campert18, thus, entering the bohemian life of Amsterdam. The twenties of the 20th century are the twenties in the life of Cornelis Spoelstra. That is when he becomes an active writer. He begins to write and publish, and always under the pseudonym A. den Doolaard. The book keeper Cornelis Spoelstra is stepping into the shadow of the wanderer, the journalist, the writer A. den Doolaard. In the period from 1921 to 1932 he writes poetry inspired by a movement known as vitalism. His poems appear in various periodicals and he publishes his own books, as well. In September 1928 he leaves his job in the Batavian Petrol Company and determines to live only from his writing. He consumes his savings as he pursues life on the road, including travels to France, to the tourist center Chamoix, which remains one of his favorite destinations for his entire life. Since early childhood, the future writer and journalist enjoys long and frequent walks and later participates in athletic competitions. At an international competition he meets an English girl with whom he falls in love; later they get engaged. Their devotion towards each other melts at the moment when it becomes clear that the beloved girlfriend does not share his love for the mountains. The young Cornelis Spoelstra cannot live without mountains and travel. Thus, he is always looking to combine traveling with his writing. In 1930 he wanders through France as a migrant worker, working as a bricklayer, grape picker, janitor, doorman... The experiences from this trip will be applied later in 17

Albert Kuyle is the pseudonym of Dutch writer Louis Maria Albertus Kuitenbrouwer (17. 02. 1904 - 04. 03. 1958). 18 Jan Remco Theodoor Campert (15. 08. 1902 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 12. 01. 1943) was a Dutch journalist, theater critic and writer. During the occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, he was arrested for helping Jews and died in a concentration camp.

1931 when he quickly writes the novel The Grape Harvesters (De druiven plukkers), which brings him his first significant success. There are many readers of his novel, which gives him a powerful incentive for further journeys and writing of new books. One by one works emerge that prove readily appealing to readers throughout the Netherlands. Thus begins the rise of the writer A. den Doolaard, who, right up to the 70`s of the 20th century, is among the ten best-selling Dutch authors. Why A. den Doolaard? About the selection of this pseudonym, he says: “I have not chosen. It came to me quite unexpectedly, as I wrote the first verses of the poems, and the act of writing poetry is also directly connected with taking pseudonyms. I never kept diaries, but it would have been somewhere in 1922 that I for the first time published a poem with A. den Doolaard underneath. Why? Because it would have been enough for my friends - athletes to ridicule me, by what they regarded as a strange eccentricity.” – Wim Hazeu, Het literair pseudoniemenboek, Amsterdam, 1987, page 39

In 1933 he publishes the novel The Inn with the Horseshoe (De herberg met het hoefijzer). In 1934 he receives official recognition from the Association of Dutch Literature for this book. For the success of this book the facts speak for themselves: it has been reissued some 40 times and translated into several languages. Critics are not always delighted by his work. But it does not bother A. den Doolaard as he continues his vagabond lifestyle. He keeps traveling and every trip gives him incentive to write a new book. Particularly because of his frequent and long absences from the Netherlands, he is isolated from the Dutch literary scene. However, upon the request of writer Albert Kuyle, in 1934 he joins the editorial board of the newly formed magazine De Nieuwe Gemeen-

schap (The New Community). But he remains for only a short time: one year later he leaves the editorial board when he realizes that the magazine has taken a fascist and antiSemitic course.

A. den Doolaard with Erie Spoelstra - Meijer (Wampie)

In 1935 den Doolaard joins the Social Democratic Workers' Party. Appointed as a traveling correspondent for the socialist newspaper Het Volk (The People), as a “flying” reporter, he travels by air over Europe and North Africa, visiting countries that are the focus of world attention and the source of “news of the day”. On his trips abroad he becomes aware of the lack of freedom and the authoritarian regimes that rule in many of these countries: such as Bulgaria, Austria and Italy, from which he is thrown out after a police interrogation. With alarm he follows the rise of National Socialism in Germany and its infiltration into the neighboring countries. Under the title Around the Third Reich (Rondom het Derde Rijk), in the summer of 1937 he writes a series of politically charged reports about the Nazi infiltration and intimidation of the neighbors of Germany. These reports often conflict with the neutral stance of the newspaper. Disagreements with the editors, especially those of a private nature, at the end of September 1937 compel him to resign. A year later all these articles are published together under the title The Swastika over Europe (Het hakenkruis over Europa). A. den Doolaard for the first time marries in 1930. In France he meets Frenchwoman Daisy Roulôt, and marries her, but six years later (1936) their marriage falls apart. This marriage gave birth to a daughter, Hélène Spoelstra. However, the single life of den Doolaard does not last long. Already in 1937 he marries a second time. This time to Erie Meijer-Wampie19, who remains with him till the end of his life. In this marriage he has two more daughters: Milja20 and Branda. 19

Johanna Maria Wilhelmina Meijer (2. 07. 1916 – 3. 04. 1999) on 6 October 1937 married 15 years older A. den Doolaard. She was the model for the main character of the novel Wampie, published in 1938, and Wampie is her nickname, which she received from her husband. 20 Milja (15. 12. 1945 – 4. 03. 2010) was buried near her parents.

Erie occupies an important place in the life of the writer. In addition to her role as a housewife and mother of their two daughters, Erie has a key role in the professional life of A. den Doolaard. Since the beginning of their relationship, she actively helps in his writing activities, by retyping manuscripts, checking the books for print, maintaining correspondence... At the same time she is his most valuable critic and she helps him make many necessary changes in his writings. Den Doolaard closely follows the developments in Germany and knows what to expect from the East. So, as early as February 1940, he and his wife leave for Belgium. On 10 May, 1940 Germany invades the Netherlands, and the German armies progress towards Belgium. Then A. den Doolaard and his wife flee by bicycle to southern France, where there is a pro-German puppet state with Vichy as the capital city. Driven by the need for survival, den Doolaard does hard physical labor in agriculture and as a logger, while his movements are followed by the watchful eye of police authorities. After nearly a one year stay in France, the couple manages to leave for England. Once they obtain the necessary visas with the help of Dutch diplomats, traveling by way of Spain and Portugal they arrive in London. In London den Doolaard works as a speaker for the radio stations Brandaris and Oranje. Over the course of time he masters speaking skills, his voice becomes recognizable, and his name becomes very popular in the occupied Netherlands. The war ends and in February 1945 den Doolaard visits the flooded island of Walcheren, in the western Netherlands, as a reporter for Radio Oranje. There he gets the idea to write a book about the reclaiming of the flooded land. Military authorities have appointed him a liaison officer of the Department for Drying of Walcheren, which directly acquaintances him with the drying process of the island. It allows him to use his experience to write the new book. In 1947, after five months time, he writes the novel The Ex-

pelled Water (Het verjaagde water), which achieves great success inside and outside the Netherlands. After World War II, den Doolaard returns to his vagabond lifestyle. He stays mostly in Yugoslavia, and he has particular affection for Macedonia. But after two years of residence in 1952/53, unable to stand the restrictions on freedom by the then-communist authorities, in 1954 the Spoelstra family returns to the Netherlands and settles in the village of Hoenderloo. Here the author finds the needed peace for fruitful work. Hence, follow numerous trips. Events and people from those trips are reflected in a number of novels, newspaper articles and short stories.

A. den Doolaard`s home in Hoenderloo

In 1948 den Doolaard gets a job as a travelling reporter for the Catholic newspaper De Gelderlander (The Gelderlander)21. Nearly every year he travels to Yugoslavia, 21

Dutch regional daily newspaper founded in 1848. It covers most of the province of Gelderland, and some parts of the provinces of Noord-Brabant, Limburg and Utrecht.

and later to Greece, as well. He traveled also to countries on other continents, the USA, India and Thailand. The previously published articles from these countries later are revised into travel books, often in collaboration with photographer Cas Oorthuys22. His travels are reflected also in his literary works, especially in the novels Little People in the Big World (Kleine mensen in de grote wereld) from 1953 and The Country behind God's Back (Het land achter Gods rug) from 1956.

Grave of A. den Doolaard and Erie Spoelstra - Meijer

Casparus Bernardus Oorthuijs (Oorthuys) (01. 11. 1908 - 22. 07. 1975) was a Dutch photographer. His photographs from before the Second World are seen as propagandistic, as he frequently photographed poverty, police brutality, the rampant unemployment and similar phenomena in society. He was a member or supporter of numerous leftist organizations.

The final years of his life are passed under the heavy burden of old age. His hearing declines, and his sight weakens as well. He rarely writes during the last decade of his life. A. den Doolaard passed away on 26 June, 1994, in his sleep, at his home in Hoenderloo, where he spent the second half of his life. He was buried on 29 June at the graveyard of the Reformed Church in Hoenderloo. In his eternal dwelling he is not alone. In the endless wandering through time, he is accompanied by his faithful companion Wampie! A. den Doolaard`s gravestone is very simple. It consists of a naturally shaped stone, across which is written the sentence: “We have lived amidst wonders, but we did not understand it”. It is a quote – the last sentence from his novel Gods go home (De goden gaan naar huis)!23

A. den Doolaard, De goden gaan naar huis. Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1966, p. 439

THE REVEALING OF MACEDONIA A. den Doolaard is an important author for several reasons. Writing, as an author and journalist, was his career for over 60 years. During that time he created numerous works which reflect his imagination, and also very importantly, his rich experience gained along the roads of life. He wrote poetry, as well as prose of various kinds: novels, short stories, essays, travelogues... Some of his books have been repeatedly reprinted and are still reissued, decades after their first publication! And no matter how much less people today may value the creative expression or style of certain works, with his long writing experience and written legacy, den Doolaard is the stone upon which would stumble, at least momentarily, even his most able critic. To Macedonian readers, of course, most interesting and closest to their hearts are his records of the Macedonian land, its people, customs, and way of living. A. den Doolaard for half a century followed the Macedonian situation and reported on significant historical moments directly from the field, including the times before and after the Second World War. He experienced the terror of the Balkan monarchies in all parts of Macedonia, and then followed the developments of the autonomous Macedonian republic in socialist Yugoslavia. At the same time he had the opportunity to directly understand the Macedonian mentality and everyday life, an inexhaustible and immediate source of material for his works. The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies and Express to the East may not be the best works of this author; they may not be books that have produced a significant impact on Dutch and world literature. Despite everything, undoubtedly these books have made the greatest contribution to the rapprochement of Macedonia to the Dutch reading public.

Moreover, he wrote at a time when Macedonia, for the Dutch and for the majority of other residents of Western Europe, was barely known, situated on the far edge of western civilization.

Samuel`s Fortress in Ohrid “Furthermore, it is worth coming from Paris to the Balkans, only to see Ohrid. What a beautiful location on the steep hill! And the town, what a wonderful mix of customs and centuries...” – A. den Doolaard, De bruiloft der zeven zigeuners, Em. Querido`s Uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1963, page 35

After numerous unsuccessful uprisings and battles for independence from the Ottoman Empire, in 1913 Macedonia was divided among the neighboring states, and the Vardar region was occupied by the Kingdom of Serbia. As Serbian territory, this part enters the newly formed state, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918, under the crown of King Alexander I Karadjordjevich24. 24

Alexander I Karadjordjevich (16. 12. 1888 - 09. 10. 1934) was the only king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1918

The Dutch writer, when he arrives in Macedonia, has the opportunity to see the harsh reality of the situation of the Macedonians. They are denied the right to speak their native language even in private life, nor to even be called Macedonians, and most live in conditions like those of the Middle Ages. Under such conditions, den Doolaard sees enormous contradictions in Macedonia. The legendary country, with heavenly natural beauty, a significant cornerstone of early European civilization, walks its road to Golgotha. The writer experiences these two extremes and describes them in two different novels. First, in 1934, he published Express to the East (Oriënt - Express). About this book, the author says: “Express to the East is not a historical novel, even when set against the background of the story of the tragic fate of a Macedonian peasant family with its repeated episodes involving the bloody history of IMRO, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (1893-1935).25” However, the inescapable fact is that this novel encompasses the historical moment of the Ilinden Uprising of 1903 and all the phases in the development of IMRO. Through the fate of a Macedonian family, he presents the agony of the Macedonian people, all of their suffering during the first half of the last century. A. den Doolaard stayed in Macedonia very often over a long period of time. So, he was very familiar with the essential facts of all the conspiracies and battles over the land of the Macedonians:

-1929) and the first king of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (19291934). 25 A. den Doolaard: „Oriënt-Express“. Em. Querido`s Uitgeverij, Amsterdam 1994, p. 239

“Notably, the neighboring kingdoms of Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria wanted Macedonia for each one of them alone. The Bulgarians, people of Asian and not of Slavic origin, nonetheless waged the fiercest propaganda campaign26.” Because of such propaganda, carried out by various occupiers of the Macedonian land, the Dutch writer and rebel against all tyranny, tends to tell the Macedonian story by describing the fate of the ordinary Macedonian peasants, who are carried along by a whirlwind of historic events.

Macedonian children in traditional folk costumes

Despite all the bitterness of political intrigue and unbearable living conditions, den Doolaard also strove to describe the more beautiful, more joyful, brighter side of life in Macedonia. The beautiful nature and rich cultural heritage of “customs over the centuries” around Lake Ohrid are woven 26

Ibid., p. 239

into the romantic story of Dushka Borovich and Branko Markovich. Thus was born The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies (De bruiloft der zeven zigeuners).

A. den Doolaard in 1967 A. den Doolaard was impressed by everything he saw in Macedonia: unspoiled nature, frescoes, folk art... In the picture on next page: Macedonian women in traditional costumes from the western regions of the country â&#x2020;&#x2019;

A. den Doolaard is a journalist, even when writing novels. Namely, his style is exactly that of a journalist. Even in a romantic drama, such as The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies, he recounts endless details about Macedonian history, geography, customs, and way of living... At times it seems as if he wanted to give an accurate description of even the smallest pebble; as if someone truly desires to know such things! Therefore, we can consider this novel a travelogue about Ohrid, Lake Ohrid... and Macedonia! And, the spring of his imagination does not dry up here, because den Doolaard has written other books about Macedonia, as well. The itineraries are collected in the books The Savages of Europe (De wilden van Europa) and Freedom and Death (Van vrijheid en dood). Based on the amount of time he spent in Macedonia, the efforts he invested in promoting and his emotional attachment to his “second homeland” (as he often called Macedonia), den Doolaard deserves a special place among the respected individuals who developed Dutch-Macedonian relations. His intense devotion to Macedonia is not a coincidence. In the Foreword to Express to the East, in 1940, describing his dedication to Macedonia, he says: “I am a Dutchman, who while wandering, started to love Macedonia deeply, as I now still love her above the other countries that I passed through27.” A. den Doolaard loved Macedonia sincerely and unconditionally. Precisely because of his love and devotion to his Second Homeland and its people, we, his alternative fellow countrymen, have to forgive some minor flaws in his writings. It is possible to find interpretations of historical facts and social conditions in his books that are inconsistent 27

A. den Doolaard, Oriënt-Express, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1940, p. 6

with our present knowledge and desires. Moreover, we must keep in mind the time and conditions in which A. den Doolaard created his books and other records of Macedonia. At that time the Macedonians were converted into silent taxpayers and tools of the Balkan political forces, manipulated to achieve their interests. They brutally terrorized Macedonia in every possible way, even destroying the truth about its past and denying the present reality. The objective voice hardly reaches the ears of the European public, especially when the Macedonians were subjected to harsh assimilation and placed at the service of foreign propaganda. Under such circumstances it is not at all surprising that A. den Doolaard considered that Ohrid was “built by the Greeks” and he declared Tsar Samuel a “Bulgarian king”... “That is Ohrid: the old medieval imperial city, built by the Greeks, consolidated by the Romans, by the Slavic Saints Clement and Nahum, sprinkled with white monasteries, by the Bulgarian Tsar Samuel raised into a royal city, looted by the Normans, again conquered by the Serbs, enslaved and infested by Turks, the southernmost city of Greater Serbia in the 20th century.”28 Neither was Ohrid built by the Greeks nor was Samuel a Bulgarian tsar, but such was the information available to him in the existing literature or even in contacts with local informants. So at times quite unjustifiably one gets the impression that the writer has taken the side of the occupiers of the Macedonian land. Despite the strong propaganda of the Balkan states, the Dutchman managed to identify and refine a separate Macedonian spirit and the uniqueness of Macedonia in relation to other countries and peoples of the neighborhood. In his books, he talks about “Macedonian hills”, “Macedonian 28

A. den Doolaard, De bruiloft der zeven zigeuners, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1963, p. 21

songs”, “the Macedonian-Slav race” as a counterweight to their official naming with the adjectives “Serbian” or “southSerbian” (or Bulgarian in Bulgaria, Greek in Greece). This Dutchman had fallen in love with Macedonians and the natural beauties of Macedonia, the mountains, lakes, rivers, valleys... He was amazed by the Macedonians, by them, as well as by their artistic works: frescoes in churches, dances and songs. His admiration of the Macedonian artistic heritage is clear in his work. In The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies on several occasions Prof. Cigogne convinces Branko Markovich that Macedonia is the place where the revival of Europe began: “The Renaissance in the world originated here, from an unknown Macedonian mind.”29 Through Prof. Cigogne, regardless of whether he is a fictional or real character, we actually hear the voice of A. den Doolaard.

Lamentation of Christ on a fresco in the church of th St. Panteleimon (12 century) in Gorno Nerezi, near Skopje 29

Ibid., p. 19

RECOGNITION IN OHRID On 29 May, 2006 in Ohrid the first monument in honor of A. den Doolaard was unveiled. The monument was designed by architect Vladimir Toich from Tetovo, based upon the concept of Venko Mustrakinoski from Ohrid, Peter John Bosse of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce in Macedonia, and Lyupcho Todoroski. The construction of the monument was completed by Bato Zdravkoski from Ohrid. It features a stylized sail. Inside the wing of the sail is an open book of marble. On the left page of the etched â&#x20AC;&#x153;bookâ&#x20AC;? there is information about A. den Doolaard (name, years of birth and death, occupation) and names of the participants in the project. On the right page, the relief displays the image of the writer. On the occasion of the ceremonial unveiling of the monument in Ohrid, among the participants were descendants of A. den Doolaard.

Pupils from Vancho Nikoleski Primary School of Leskoec, near Ohrid, visiting the Memorial Room for A. den Doolaard

On 19 June, 2011 on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of the birth of A. den Doolaard, the newly founded cultural center â&#x20AC;&#x153;Culture 365â&#x20AC;?, in the Tsar Samoil Street in Ohrid, sponsored an exhibition of books, photographs and information about the life and work of the writer. Quite naturally, from the outset Dutch tourists were the most common and enthusiastic visitors. If few of them were hearing of this writer for the first time, most, especially the elderly, were reminded of some pleasurable time in their youth when they had read his books.

THE WEDDING OF THE SEVEN GYPSIES

THE WEDDING OF THE SEVEN GYPSIES30

Almost every elderly Dutch person I met, eventually would proudly say: -“You know, a writer of ours has been writing about Macedonia. He has written a book about Ohrid. In this book, the story is about…” Once I heard this for the first time, every other time was much easier. When somebody would start the same-old story, there was no way I could resist showing off my knowledge, and I would add: - “Yes, yes, he wrote a book about Ohrid, and the book was named...” Boasting would not be what it is, if I admitted that apart from the name of the writer and the title of his book, everything else about him was like the darkest night, a night 30

Published in: Narodna Volya (People`s Will) No. 8/2002, Blagoevgrad, 2002; M. Yuzmeski, Pofalni Slova, Blagoevgrad, 2006.

without a star in the sky. I knew that what other people had told me was a pale reflection of the famous novel and its celebrated Dutch author. As a result, my curiosity was growing, my eagerness to get ahold of the much-praised novel was growing with time. Each time someone would “gossip” about the writer, or just mention his name, it would raise a number of questions in my mind. What made that distant foreigner want to write about Macedonia? Why not write novels about some other country, better known or more famous, a country wealthier and bigger than my “little and poor” Macedonia? It came down to the fact that the relationship between the foreign writer and my Macedonian homeland, was more important to me than the real literary significance of his work, or the contents of what he had written. The years kept passing, and the story about the writer and his novel kept being repeated, countless times. Nevertheless, the opportunity to see the book, to turn its pages over with my fingers, never came. My curiosity would sometimes fade, other times it would flare up again, and at times turn into an irritating impatience. Bookstores. To me, a frequent and adored destination. If I became lost somewhere, most likely you would find me in a bookstore. During my extended stays in the Low Countries, as elsewhere, many times I would drift into bookstores. In the short, cold winter days, when the skies above the North Sea are covered for months with a blanket of clouds, the bookstores would offer me warmth, light and spiritual food to rise above the earthly darkness. For hours and days, I would pass over the titles of thousands of books of all kinds. Among the piles of books, I would search for the highly praised book about my Macedonia. Whether through bad luck or haphazard searching, the book did not want to fall into my hands. What was preventing me from discovering the book I wanted? Years passed, and of the book, all I had was the title and its author‟s name in my head.

Then came an international meeting from 2-9 July, 1994, on the shores of Lake Ohrid. It was a conference on the relationship of the religions of the world. That day as the ship â&#x20AC;&#x153;Galebâ&#x20AC;? cut the still waters of the lake, among its some hundred passengers from many countries and different faiths, out in the middle of Lake Ohrid's waters, among the many passengers, I met Jan Kaandorp, a priest from the south Netherlandsâ&#x20AC;&#x; city of Tilburg. He was a somewhat quiet, engaging man, not unlike many of the Dutch people I'd met. I couldn't help but be reminded of the Netherlands, and I felt their people as particularly dear to me. Once I had spoken to him in his native tongue, telling him that I had also been to the Netherlands, he began to feel a certain kinship with me as a person. Moreover, he enjoyed hearing my impressions from my visits to his homeland. Though, whether we wanted to or not, we mainly focused on our immediate surroundings. Finding many things in common, praising one another's homelands, we became friendly rather quickly. Talking about the relation between our two countries, I do not know quite when, but eventually we got started on the theme of the Writer and the Book. The priest Jan Kaandorp, who was quite pleased by the surrounding beauty, praised his compatriot and his talent, for having depicted the beauty of Macedonia so well in words for the Dutch reader, as well as the charming ways of the Macedonian people. Then, confessing my poor knowledge about the famous writer and his book, I had to admit that the book was not very familiar to me. It seemed that the priest had hoped that just such a chance would be given to him. Without hesitation, he gave his promise: as soon as he returned home, to the Netherlands, he would look for the book in some bookstore, in order to send it to me. I knew from experience that such easily given promises could as easily be forgotten. Therefore, this time I was very much surprised. After a short time, the postman opened

the door of my home, and without further ado, dropped on the floor a tiny package. In addition to the address of the recipient on the package, there was a return address and the name of the sender, Jan Kaandorp, from the city of Tilburg in the Netherlands. I could already guess what the package would contain.

Advertising poster for the first edition of The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies

I tore the wrapping off impatiently, rushing to finally get at the thing that he'd promised me. My fingers were finally turning over pages of a copy of the much-sought after book. Finally, The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies was mine!

Dutch people. A small nation in a little country, not much bigger than Macedonia. As in very few places in the world, nature can be extremely merciless there. While the North Sea continues to advance from the North trying to crush everything in its way, a number of rivers flow from several directions into the Low Lands. Frequent heavy rains bring even more misery to the struggling people. For centuries they have had to fight for their survival. Not just from unfriendly nations, to defend themselves, but from an even greater enemy. Water, always much more than ever needed! With tremendous effort, numerous inland waterways have been dug to take away the excess water from rivers and rain. An endless series of dykes and high dams have been built to stop the sea. Vast areas (up to 25 % of the territory of the Netherlands is under, and some 40 % less than one meter above sea level) have been reclaimed from the sea by drying them out, turning the areas into fruitful land and settlements. Therefore, and with a good reason, Dutch people say: â&#x20AC;&#x153;God created the world, but the Dutch created the Netherlandsâ&#x20AC;?! Born and raised in the Low, and out of the water squeezed, Land, as nearly every other Dutch person, most probably Cornelis Spoelstra, better known as A. den Doolaard, longed for the High Lands, being overjoyed by the towering mountain peaks. Running away from the sea, making his way to the mountains, the young Dutchman arrived in the heart of the Balkans, in Macedonia. Den Doolaard had found in Macedonia what he did not have at home: high mountains, deep ravines, magical rivers and lakes. The Dutch guest felt the sincere and warm hospitality of the Macedonian people. Right here, in the land of the Macedonians, A. den Doolaard had found what seemed hard to find elsewhere. In one single place and at the same time, he discovered great treasures and deep secrets of the world. To him, Macedonia was a wonderland of natural beauties and artistic treasures. Here, from all sides, the very stones on the hillsides radiated a strange life force. The visi-

tor felt and received the rich spirit of Macedonia, the warmth of the Macedonian soul. He felt and accepted Macedonia as a dear country, one that he adopted as his own. Macedonia was not the only country A. den Doolaard visited. However, he did not choose Macedonia by chance. For A. den Doolaard Macedonia became a necessity of life, that met a real need in his life. No matter how different it was from his native land, Macedonia and the Macedonian people were familiar and dear to A. den Doolaard. The Macedonian people with their sweating faces, darkened by the sun and hardened by a hard life, were in many ways a reflection of his own Dutch people. While in the North the fight was against the water, by squeezing it out of each fistful of soil, in the South the fight was for the water, to irrigate each foot of dry, parched land. Problems of a different nature, but the pain and suffering were shared. I am turning the pages of the yellowed book. The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies should be a most ordinary novel of love. It would be such a book, ifâ&#x20AC;Ś While my fingers are turning them over, the pages are describing the blue waters of Lake Ohrid, and the walls and the domes of the medieval churches and monasteries darkened by the smoke of candles, and decorated with dusty age old depictions of the saints. The story of the wedding of the seven Gypsies would be a most ordinary story, ifâ&#x20AC;Ś In the thirties of the twentieth century, Macedonia is partitioned, deprived of the most basic of human rights, tormented. In all three parts anti-Macedonian regimes rule. In the midst of much cruelty, the author from the North had the power to collect the beautiful and joyful things he encountered. To squeeze out of them the filth and bitterness of the sad life. From the well-selected and the most beautiful thread, he knit the story of Branko and the women of his life. It was an eternal story of love and life that he described, set between the blue waters of Lake Ohrid and the heights of the Macedonian mountains.

A. den Doolaard started his remarkable book in Skopje, in March of 1933, then continued in Ohrid. The book was finished in his home in the Netherlands and in the French Alps, in the first three months of 1939.

The Old Plane Tree in Ohrid as a café “He asked the professor if the two of them could drink coffee in the town square, in the oldest Turkish cafe. It is operated in the open under the crown of an ancient plane tree; whose trunk, the thickness of several meters, had over time become so hardened that no one can see where the root ends and where begins the cavity. Old Turkish men with white turbans around their red fezzes in good weather sit there quietly idling away the day." – A. den Doolaard, De bruiloft der zeven zigeuners, Em. Querido`s Uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1963, page 22

For six whole years, the spirit of the writer wandered between the heights of Macedonia and the depths of the Netherlands. Word after word, sentence after sentence, he wrote it all down. Periods and commas and verses were added. Spoelstra or den Doolaard, the writer, was knitting his story about the newly discovered paradise, about his new homeland. If only for a time, a homeland, all the same.

For six years, the spirit of the writer wandered between the North and the South, between the roots and the yearning for more in life. He laid them â&#x20AC;&#x201C; stone after a stone, column after column, building a bridge between the North and the South. A relation between two distant countries was built; a nation was connected to another nation. Spoelstra or den Doolaard â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the name does not really matter! What matters is that this man built a very wide bridge. In my hands, I am holding a copy of the book printed in 1963. And after that? I do not know what happened. I do not know, really, I do not know! However, in a span of some 24 years, the book was published eleven times. A new edition every two years. The longing for the magical country in the (not so distant) South was spreading and growing. Like seeds carried by the wind, the longing for Macedonia was spread across the polders31 and along the canals of the Low Lands. Thousands of readers lived with their heroes from the romantic story of The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies. The longing for the warm south nestled in the souls of the readers from one corner to the other of the Netherlands. A bridge, strong and wide. Thousands of Dutch people walked over that bridge. For decades, they have been among the most numerous and regular visitors to Macedonia. Following in the footsteps of A. den Doolaard and with a longing for the Macedonian land, from the North to the South, like the swallows in early springtime, young and old, men and women were coming our way. With an eye on the blue lake waters and the mountain peaks, with big smiles on the many lips, they would once again remind me of The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies. Cornelis Spoelstra also known as A. den Doolaard described one wedding only. Those following in his footsteps and arriving in Macedonia witnessed many other weddings. I do not know whose love came first, but I know that Macedonians have been falling in love with the Dutch, and 31

Land reclaimed from a body of water (lake or sea).

the Dutch falling in love with Macedonians ever since. The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies was repeated over and over again, with songs, wine and violins. Before The Wedding of the seven Gypsies, Macedonia and the Netherlands used to be more isolated from one another. After The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies, they have become closer and much better known to each other. Less alien since his bridge between the North and the South was built. It is a summer day, July 2002. It is raining. I hear the rain drops falling, and in my thoughts, I wander through time. In July 1994, on the ship â&#x20AC;&#x153;Galebâ&#x20AC;?, in the midst of the blue waters of Lake Ohrid I had encountered Jan Kaandorp. I never met that likable man from Tilburg again. I only received the copy of the book The wedding of the seven Gypsies, from him. I hold it in my hands, I read his dedication. A century ago Cornelis Spoelstra was born, the man known as A. den Doolaard. A man in love with Macedonia and one of its true admirers. A man who knew how to discover the genuine beauty of the Macedonian land, to cleanse it of its earthly filth and misery, to make it eternal. While thinking of Jan or Cornelis, I also think of many other foreign people who are in love with my country and friends of my people. I remember them, with respect and appreciation, because those foreigners showed me how to love my own homeland more and with greater pride. In their eyes, I have seen the delights of my Macedonia. In their eyes, I can more clearly see and understand the great life force of my people.

The wooden bridge over the canal in Ohrid, later replaced with the new one of concrete and iron

OHRID LOVE LEGEND32

St. Naum Monastery at the time when A. den Doolaard wrote The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies

Despite the centuries-old writing tradition in the Netherlands and its rich literary heritage, Dutch literature for Macedonian readers remains distant and unknown. For now, the best known Dutch writer in Macedonia is A. den Doolaard, but even he and his fame were earned only by the novel The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies. Why did this book and its author earn such attention? 32

Published in: Ohridski Novini (Ohrid News) No. 38/39, Ohrid, May 2006; Narodna Volya (People`s Will) No. 6/2006, Blagoevgrad, June 2006; M. Yuzmeski, Pofalni Slova (Words of Praise), Blagoevgrad, 2006.

The main character in this love story is Branko Markovich, a professional, well-known photographer. Through his photography he earns a living, but his life otherwise is one great romantic adventure, interrupted only occasionally by some photo session. His whole life is drawn within a triangle, whose angles always point to the same things: alcohol, Gypsy music and women! Quite predictably, the story begins with such a scene: an obscure restaurant in the capital of the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Branko downs a drink and calls for music, while his mind wanders through memories of Yelka, the last woman to cross his path in life. Suddenly, out of nowhere appears a completely random character. Dalmatian Lyubomir Savich, an officer of the governmental press bureau in Belgrade, appears only to give impetus to the action: - “Today I had a visit from a famous professor of art history and Byzantine studies at the University of Paris. His name is Pierre Cigogne; you probably have heard his name. He is writing a book on the Orthodox churches of the Balkans...” The professor requires a good photographer to do the illustrations for his book. According to Savich, the required photographer is Branko, because... - “...taking pictures of Byzantine frescoes is not a job for everyone.” Apart from being a good photographer, Branko is also familiar with this part of the world. The work is arranged and now the story can continue in the south, in a very different environment. Note, please: the surname of the professor is Cigogne33. Is it pure coincidence, or did the author thoughtfully inserted a small hint of what would happen in the life of the hero? Is this an association with the role of the famous migratory bird? It is certain that the stork does not bring babies. Though, it seems that professor “Stork” comes with a 33

French: cigogne = stork

predetermined goal: to bring for Branko a totally new life, as pure and perfect as the soul of the newborn child, who (at least in stories) should be delivered by the stork!

The settlement of Kaneo (formerly Kanevo) in Ohrid with the church of St. John Divine at the time when A. den Doolaard wrote The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies

Photographer and professor take the path of the migratory birds, to the south, to Macedonia. The destination of the trip is not a coincidence. Down, beside Lake Ohrid, in the mute silence of the centuries, disturbed only by the lake waves and the occasional swirling of the wind, at the foot of the hills lay numerous old Christian temples with walls that hide the images of countless saints and miraculous biblical scenes.

“Here was born the Renaissance,” would say Professor Cigogne. Entranced by the beauty of the frescoes, Professor Cigogne retreats from the stage and sends Branko into the arms of a new life. Branko walks towards Kaneo. There, on the rocks that sweep over the lake, we find the second key character in the story. Dushka Borovich is an extremely uncommon character in the environment and in the time in which the story takes place. She is a student at the University of Belgrade. Her time in Ohrid is spent reading philosophy books, steeped in her own and in the loneliness of the old town, away from the everyday intrigues of the philistine world of men. As expected, Branko cannot resist the challenge, and slowly makes her acquaintance, in a set of assignations between the two of them. Meetings occur one after another: once among the walls of Samuel`s Fortress, sometimes under the vault of St. Clement`s Church (Virgin Peribleptos). The first kiss comes quite soon; it is followed by a silver gift. Repeatedly, Branko finds opportunities to be with his new love. Will this one will be the final one? The youngest and prettiest daughter of pharmacist Ante Borovich does not fit into the environment of her origin. “You know that I would never marry, father!” Dushka tells her father; and that is because the men of Ohrid... “... still think that women are half slaves”. “You need a man, Dushka, older and with a stronger spirit than you,” her father tries to convince her. A day trip by boat to Sveti Naum is another good opportunity for the further rapprochement between Branko and Dushka, another testing of each other's feelings. Among the monastery walls, in a conversation with Father Miron, Branko gets a view of a more spiritual life, a lesson about a different life.

The springtime awakens nature and further rouses the passions of the two in love. During the summer their love grows, and then comes their decision concerning the wedding. Dushka and Branko are determined to marry. For Dushka, the wedding marks the beginning of a new life with the man who meets with her approval. At least, she believes so. She is confirmed in her feelings and knows exactly what she wants, whom she loves, and what expectations she has. For Branko, it is not only a beginning of a new chapter in his life, to be shared with another human being. Now he has to say good-bye to long, idle days in cafes, as well as to the continual wanderings from one woman's embrace to another. No matter how difficult such a change can be; he is committed to the great change. All this, though, he wants to do in the old style, with lots of music, according to tradition and in the style of his previous life. Branko is determined, at his expense, to invite the best Gypsy musicians from all the different parts of the kingdom, his old acquaintances and part of his past. He will pay for their travel and stay in Ohrid; and he will pay for their music. Just let everything be as he wishes! However, there is Dushka... “They are strangers to me, Branko. I love music, but you know how wild and primitive Gypsies can sometimes be.” “Well,” Branko answers, “it will be the last gesture of primitive passion of my life”. The seven Gypsies, the best musicians in the whole kingdom, arrive in Ohrid. Milan, Pusha, Peter, Prcha, Asim, Toza and Gage have assembled an orchestra the likes of which Ohrid has never seen, and the wedding of Branko and Dushka can finally take place. On the evening before the wedding day, the first wedding ceremony is organized. This is the scene when the seven Gypsies enter. Each one of them should play or sing one song, each from a different part of the country. Such is the agreement. However, each song will be a reminder of a

different love affair of Branko Markovich. As the songs are played one by one, for Branko each one evokes the memories of Zorka, Nada, Vera, Lyubitsa, Mila, Marya and Yelka. Now, the chief heroes of the story are the seven Gypsies that, through their music, govern events. Through the music of the seven Gypsies, Branko returns to the past, and under the influence of the sound of their instruments, his true nature as a womanizer and eternal wanderer is evoked. The fear of what was to come overwhelms him, and Branko bows, surrenders to it. On the wedding day he does the most outrageous thing. He flees!

The Monastery of Kalishta at the time when A. den Doolaard wrote The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies

The following morning Dushka finds a farewell letter. The handwriting on the envelope says it is from Branko Markovich. Written with his recognizable handwriting, addressed to Dushka Borovich... â&#x20AC;&#x153;But I am no longer Borovich; well, I am his wife,â&#x20AC;? she wonders, even before having discovered the awful contents of the letter in the envelope. She is ready to forgive all the sins from his past because she loves him; and because he loves her. However, it seems already too late. The letter, the footprints in the sand

on the lake shore and the missing boat are the only traces of Branko. The scandal is there; one cannot escape it. The embarrassment in the small town is terrible. Her father looks for a way out of the disgraceful situation for his family: “We consider, the best for you is, at least temporarily, to go into a monastery. That will be, of course, Kalishta.” Ante sends his daughter by boat across the lake. Nevertheless, instead of to Kalishta, the boat goes south, to St. Naum, after Branko. Step by step, Dushka detects his trail and finds him. Branko is now in Albania, in the city of Korcha, again drunk and neglected. Dushka will not go without him! Finally, the story finds its happy ending. Love wins, and Dushka is determined to restore Branko to her life. They both head for Ohrid, to a common home and life together. Thus ends the love story of Branko and Dushka. Even so, let us continue the story about The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies and its creator. This story with its happy ending, A. den Doolaard wrote over a period of six years. The first lines were written in Skopje, in March of 1933. Then, the work was continued on the road between Belgrade - Ohrid, in August and September of 1938, and the final version of the novel took shape in the villages Huis ter Heide in the Netherlands and Argentière in the French Alps, in the first three months of 1939. The book was published just before World War II, in a very difficult and unfortunate time when life in Ohrid was far from romantic. Despite this, the author chose to focus on the best that he found in people, and he also managed to create a very appealing story. He also included some descriptions of the local history, natural beauty and cultural heritage that he found along the shores of Lake Ohrid. As a Dutchman, A. den Doolaard knew what Dutch people need and desire. Therefore, not coincidentally, he knew where to place the story of Branko and Dushka: between mountains that surround the blueness of the lake and alongside the walls of

centuries-old monasteries and fortresses. Then, he added a good dose of folklore, from Macedonia and also from the other parts of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Branko walks towards Kaneo. There, on the rocks that sweep over the lake, we find the second key character in the story.â&#x20AC;?

The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies is much more than a love story. It is a travelogue of the Macedonian land, a picture of a time and a way of living different from that in the Netherlands. Quite understandably, this book was repeatedly reprinted in The Netherlands. Inspired by what they read, tens of thousands of Dutch people have followed in the footsteps of their compatriot, with the desire to see people and places from The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies. Consciously, or not, some would go in the footsteps of Branko Markovich, to experience his fate and that of Dushka. The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies is not only a love story. Even, one would say, it is more than just a book. It is a cornerstone of Dutch - Macedonian friendship.

THE WEDDING IN OHRID34 For nearly 70 years A. den Doolaard was the best known Dutch writer in Macedonia, without ever being translated into Macedonian. This was mostly due to the novel The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies, and also partly due to the novel Express to the East. His major promoters were the numerous Dutch tourists in Macedonia, as well as some of their Macedonian friends. Meanwhile, all stressed the need for a translation of the book so that the author's celebration of the beauty of Macedonia, particularly those of the city and the lake of Ohrid would be accessible to the local people as well. On 15 September, 2006, after the opening ceremony of the 9th Ohrid PEN conference, in Ohrid`s hotel “Gorica” the first Macedonian translation of The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies was presented to the public. The translator of the novel is Violeta Loobstra - Stojanovska, and the publisher is “VIS POJ” from Ohrid. The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies in the Macedonian is translated as “Wedding in Ohrid”. The wedding described in the novel is really happening in Ohrid, so this title is acceptable in terms of content. The only problem perhaps would be if a potential reader would ask for the book under the original title. The Macedonian title is straightforward, since the wedding is in Ohrid, of Branko Markovich and Dushka Borovich, but one could wonder why the author chose to call it a “wedding of Gypsies”. The book consists of 18 sections, each with its own distinctive title: Alcohol (Alcohol), The church on the cliff 34

Published in Branuvanya (The Ripples) No. 3, Struga, 2011

(Het kerkje op de klip), Love between thistles (Liefde tussen distels), Stars above Ohrid (Sterren boven Ochrid), The silver belt (De zilveren gordel), Of fools and saints (Van dwazen en heiligen), Branko doubts no more (Branko twijfelt niet meer), Mr. Ante orders musicians (Heer Ante bestelt muzikanten), The dance through the evening (De dans door de avond), Zorka (Zorka), Nada (Nada), Vera (Vera), Lyubitsa (Ljubitsa), Mila (Mila), Marya (Marja), Yelka (Jelka), Escape to Albania (De vlucht naar Albanië), Dushka (Doesjka). All of these stories are connected in such a way as to create continuity and constitute a whole.

The Church of St. John the Theologian in Kaneo (Kanevo), in the novel described as “the church on the cliff”

The titles of the chapters reflect the overall content of the book. The protagonist of the novel, Branko is, for example, in the constant company of alcohol, and it is in the church on the cliff (St. John the Theologian in Ohrid) that he meets Dushka. They fall in love with each other among the thistles, and their love grows along the lake with the stars above Ohrid. Dushka puts on a silver belt, and accompanies

Branko to the place “of the crazy and the saints”, which is the Monastery of St. Naum. Because of his great love for Dushka, Branko has no doubts about whether to marry or not, so Mr. Ante, the father of Dushka, sees to the music. Through the course of the dance that evening, Branko awakens memories of women with whom he was in love: Zorka, Nada, Vera, Lyubitsa, Mila, Marya, Yelka. These memories are painful reminders of his uncertainty that he can fulfill the marital vows, and this induces him to escape to Albania. Dushka goes after him and takes him back to Ohrid, and back into her life. Where are the Gypsies in this entire scenario? Their appearance in the original title gives one the impression that seven Gypsies enter into marriage at the same time as Branko and Dushka, but they are not marrying, at least not in this novel. Yet, they are present throughout the entire novel. Even with the first sentence, the author suggests their close connection to the action of the novel, as with the title: “Branko Markovich thought he no longer believed in love, and therefore, he surrendered to the triple intoxication that could be bought with money: drink, women, and Gypsy music.”35 At the beginning of the story, the author introduces us to the essential nature of the hero. He is not of Gypsy origin, but he has the “Gypsy soul”. He epitomizes the traditional Gypsy life, as retained in the collective memory of humanity: eternal wandering along the roads and a life filled with music. Gypsy life implies impermanence in terms of residence or work. This is also the path of the hero of the novel. Common to Branko and to many Gypsies is the fear of an unknown life, different from the one that they are used to. From there comes the resistance to change. 35

A. den Doolaard, De bruiloft der zeven zigeuners, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1963, p. 7

Gypsies are present throughout the story, but the key role they play is at the wedding. And this is central to all that takes place in the novel. At least half of the book's chapters are committed to the wedding with all the associated events.

By the mid 20th century, Ohrid is a small, peaceful settlement - a place for romance: Dushka falls in love with Branko, A. den Doolaard falls in love with the town... In a letter to Dushka, Branko writes: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tonight, the seven Gypsies played songs from my past. You felt my despair, but did not understand it, so I must justify my escape. Every note was a humiliation, every tune was a shattering of the illusion: that I can be worthy of you, that I can marry you. You changed me at least to the extent that I saw my past in your eyes.â&#x20AC;?36 36

Ibid., p. 211

Gypsies are found at the end of the novel, as well. The last words of Branko are an invitation addressed to the old Gypsy musician named Ahmed: “I have everything, Ahmed; you understand? Everything! Except money! Even so, you get to take what I have, next time, when you come to play with me in Ohrid. When is this, you stupid head? Will it be next year, at the baptism of our first child!”37 Through this invitation, Branko shows his intent: Gypsies with their music will remain part of his life in the future. It is difficult to change certain habits, especially when they are connected with the most intimate experiences from ones youth. Which is a most compelling reason! Did not the name Roma, as a more contemporary and international official form of name for Gypsies, mean “man” and “husband”? Being Roma means to be a male, man. Whether we call them by the traditional name Gypsies (which is often used, unfortunately with negative connotations) or Roma, the stereotype of these people shows an image of the human race in some more original edition: everlasting wanderers, gatherers of fruit and... Seekers of an elusive happiness! Yet, how different is that from the situation of so many of us today, the latest edition of humanity, in constant motion (for tourism or business trips), eternal seekers of happiness and greedy collectors of fruits of ours or others labor. After each successful harvest of fruits and happiness, people celebrate with drinks, food and music. The wedding is a celebration, as well. It is celebrating the successful completion of the quest for happiness. However, no celebration can pass without drink, food and music. In the novel, A. den Doolaard creates a certain equality between the Gypsies and Branko. If Branko is a synonym for the traditional Gypsy way of life, then Gypsies 37

Ibid., p. 240

reflect Branko. All of them are much the same: they love beautiful things in life and share their fear of an unknown, different life. This is perhaps why the wedding is Branko's but also of Gypsies and all other “people with a Gypsy soul”. Therefore, the author made the correct decision, when titling the novel as we know it since its first publication in 1939: The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies! More beautiful and more compelling a title is hard to imagine. The title reflects the overall content of the novel, and the Macedonian translation really did not require a different title at all. Besides so much Gypsy music and emotion by the blue lake, situated in the southern regions of Europe, this novel seems very romantic, especially for Dutch readers. However, there is no originality in terms of the plot: an unknown stranger arrives in a small town and falls in love with a beautiful woman; she responds with her own love for him; then it comes to a melodramatic turn when the husband suddenly and secretly abandons his wife (or so it appears), so she strives at all cost to bring him back into her life. Finally, the story has a happy ending in the style of classic fairy tales from around the world: “…and so they went to his palace, and lived there happily until death parted them”, or something like that. A familiar weaving of the plot, and one that we have read in many other books, and with the development of cinema and television, we see it in various feature films and serials. Nor is the scene so original. The action of the novel takes place mostly in a little peaceful settlement near water, with short trips to distant places. In this case, it is the tiny and quiet town of Ohrid (a stark contrast to the modern city) on the shore of the big blue lake. Quite typical for the great love stories in these little places, there are boats, as well many patriarchal neighbors, uncles and aunts. Actually, in those times it could hardly be otherwise. Here, the writer probably did not have much space for action. Whether imagined or real, love stories have the same ingredients: a man and woman in love, opponents and supporters of their rela-

tionship, many ups and downs, and, of course, it cannot proceed without many tears and sighs. For us, it is history now, but the action of the novel is placed in the particular time of the writing, i.e. the 1930s when Macedonia was under Serbian rule. So, everyone throughout the novel speaks Serbian, and the Macedonians all have surnames ending with - ich.

A. den Doolaard (right) in Ohrid

In order to distinguish his book from other love stories, A. den Doolaard invested considerable effort. In this, he was helped by his nomadic lifestyle. He wrote the book in various places (Ohrid, Skopje, Belgrade...) and had a good knowledge of the locations that are mentioned in the story. Thus, firsthand, he could get the right information and the inspiration to write a more convincing love story. What one first notices is the attempt of the author to keep the story from becoming monotonous, something that can easily occur

in longer prose works, and that diverts the reader's attention. Besides the novel's main action, divided into 18 chapters with different titles, the author included other contents which have a direct impact on the reader of the text. As the author follows the adventures of the hero through the bars of the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia, he also inserts lyrics of songs from various regions of the kingdom. The novel includes many songs that appear throughout the book. Some are even presented with musical notation... Such notations produce a distinct visual impression and a calm, pleasant feeling in the reader. Therefore, I find it unjustified and inexplicable that in the Macedonian translation they are placed as a supplement after the afterword by Blagoya Ivanov. By their removal from the body of the novel, the original concept of the book is clearly disrupted. Another very important element is the constant shifting between literary and journalistic styles of writing throughout the narrative of the latest and probably last adventure of Branko, the author inserted numerous descriptions of factual things. The insertion of Professor Cigogne in the story allows mention of the history of art, especially in terms of descriptions of the old churches and monasteries. On many occasions, A. den Doolaard through Professor Cigogne, tells of some Macedonian medieval monument such as St. Panteleimon in Nerezi, near Skopje, for example. Thereby, he stresses their importance in terms of world art history: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Here, by this hostile river and in mountain caves, the Renaissance was born.â&#x20AC;?38 Although the book was written from 1933 to 1939, when Macedonia in terms of technological development was very backward, with a very primitive infrastructure, the descriptions of some localities even nowadays would be useful 38

Ibid., p. 19

for visitors. One gets the feeling that the writer decided to inspire readers to visit Macedonia, and he even wanted to show them how to reach the places described throughout the novel and what they would find there. “Ohrid - said Branko peacefully. The back of this hill falls steeply into the water, professor; the mountains that you see, in the distance, all belong to Albania because the border passes through the lake, which is here eight kilometers wide.”39 A. den Doolaard was impressed by everything he saw in Macedonia and his excitement about it appears many times in The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies: “What a country, he laughed, what fortune! For days, I've felt like I am sitting on a historic funicular.”40 We do not know how much of own his life is incorporated into this book, but we can easily conclude that the places, characters and events in the novel are taken from much of the author`s own experience41. Ohrid and the other locations described throughout the novel are the same places that the author became acquainted on his numerous trips. This is confirmed by his exact descriptions. He is so accurate in those descriptions that they describe in considerable detail many of the specifics of the churches and monasteries, the rocks upon which they rest, and the paths that lead to these 39

Ibid., p. 21 Ibid., p. 17 41 In the autobiographical book Eyes on the back; looking backward at books and contemporaries, published in 1971, A. den Doolaard admits that he has in The Wedding of Seven Gypsies included some of his own life. Among other things, the character of Dushka was inspired by the girl in whose home he stayed during his visits to Ohrid. 40

same churches and monasteries. He even tells of their condition during that time: “The most beautiful churches are too neglected for everyday services, and Branko, for example, knew that he would find the door of ‟Hagia Sophia„ closed.”42

A. den Doolaard at his home in the Netherlands

The personalities of his characters are reminiscent of him, as well. From the biography of A. den Doolaard, we know that he led an active nomadic life. Travel photographs and photographers are, therefore, present throughout his life. He took many photographs and he spent considerable time with photographers. Thus, for example, he has long collaborated with photographer Cas Oorthuys and together they published several travelogues. So it is not a coincidence that the protagonist in The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies is ex42

A. den Doolaard, De bruiloft der zeven zigeuners, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1963, p. 22

actly such a photographer in constant motion. Branko Markovich could be the epitome of a photographer in his element, even the author himself personally. With actual or altered names, the Gypsies in The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies are an image of Gypsy musicians whom the author met in the cafes or along the roads of the Balkans. While he was circling around Lake Ohrid or drinking coffee in the deep shadow of the 1000-year-old plane tree in Ohrid, A. den Doolaard had the opportunity to meet many local artisans, gardeners, fishermen and monks. With real or changed names, he inserted them as well into the story of Branko and Dushka. So, the love story of The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies can even possibly be considered a personal confession of the author and a travelogue of the Macedonian land. This way, he kept the memory of a vanished world alive, what now is called History.

Ohrid as it was seen by A. den Doolaard during his first visits

EXPRESS TO THE EAST

TO THE EAST AND BACK WITH THE ORIENT EXPRESS43 “The first to die in every war is common sense.” - A. den Doolaard

Looking to the East Orient means “east”. This would appear to be the simplest definition of this word. In fact, the word “orient” hides more complex meanings, the explanation of which requires many more words. The word “orient” comes from the Latin, more precisely from the word “oriens”, which also means “east”, or literally “rising” (of the sun). Probably, in earlier times the Romans used this word to mark the eastern side of the world, but over time it attained a more complex significance. The term “Orient” traditionally denoted everything in the world east of Europe, the largest continent with all its diversity of races, religions, customs, smells, tastes, languages… For centuries, Asia supplied silk, spices, tea and a number of other things which Europeans came to depend on. Even the Christian religion in Europe has eastern origins. The initial curiosity to understand the secrets of Asia soon led to a desire to own that part of the world with its many physical and spiritual pleasures. Even Columbus in 1492 had as his goal: by sailing westward to discover the shortest sea route to the East. Eventually the industrial revolution opened the way for modern means of transport of people and products. After the invention of the steam locomotive, Europe developed a network of iron roads, and the transport of pas43

Published in Narodna Volya, No. 1/2012, Blagoevgrad, 2012

sengers occurred on a grand scale. Traveling was made much easier. It became more convenient, faster, more secure, and included many more people. Then, the most famous train of all time arrived on the scene. Express to the East The historic Orient Express (or Orient-Express) was in operation from 1883 to 2009, and trains with the same name still operate today. The original Orient Express was an ordinary passenger train between Paris and Istanbul. It was the fastest and most comfortable connection between the western edge of Europe and the capital of the Ottoman Empire, the closest, attractive destination in the Orient. At first the train ran on the line Paris - Strasbourg - Munich - Vienna - Budapest - Bucharest - Istanbul. Later its path changed according to the demands of the time and the political situation in Europe. In 1895 service was introduced on another line, passing through Belgrade, Nish and Plovdiv. During the two world wars (1914-1918 and 1939-1945) the Orient Express was out of service, and during various periods the European iron roads have seen a number of trains with that same name on specific routes managed by different and unrelated, even competing companies. Some trains had no connection, other than their name, to the Orient. The most glorious time for the Orient Express was in the 1930s. At that time there were three lines: Orient Express, Simplon Orient Express and Arlberg Orient Express. The name Orient Express turned into a synonym for comfort and luxury travel, and a place for intrigue. The most frequent passengers were nobles, diplomats, business people and other members of the upper classes. There were also criminals, spies, and journalists. There were all the conditions for intrigues of every kind! Arlberg Orient Express was in service from 1930 to 1962, with a break between 1939 and 1945 because of World War II. The train ran between Paris - Zurich â&#x20AC;&#x201C;

Innsbruck - Vienna - Budapest - Belgrade - Athens. This train had to cross Macedonia, following the Vardar River from Skopje to Thessaloniki. Very likely, even the worst student of geography knows that Macedonia is part of Europe. Just as the worst student of history probably knows that starting from the time of Alexander the Great, through Roman times until Constantinople became the home of emperors and sultans, Macedonia had strong links with the East. In fact, the railway line with the West was only a traffic connection. Everything else, the smell, taste, sound, color, mentality, remained Oriental. Moreover, with its geographical position on the bridge between East and West, Macedonia for Europe was both close and exotic. The glories of the Orient Express expanded beyond Europe, and its name was given to some trains in Southeast Asia, as well as North America (American Orient Express). It inspired creation of a number of literary works through which its fame grew. One of those works is the novel Express to the East (Ori毛nt-Express) by A. den Doolaard.

Idealists, terrorists and gendarmes The most glorious times of the Orient Express trains coincide with the rise of A. den Doolaard as a writer and journalist. In 1930, his life was closely associated with France. He married his first wife, the Parisian Daisy Roul么t, and he earned his daily bread in French vineyards. There he found the incentive to write the novel The Grape Harvesters (De druivenplukkers), which was released in late 1931. Also in 1931, in the summer, the writer went to Marseille to work at the docks. As often happens with writers, he did not earn enough from his writing and had to work as a street photographer, grape picker, and various other jobs. However, he did not stay long enough in Marseille to earn much money!

Many years later, in the autobiographical book The Life of a Wanderer (Het leven van een landloper) he recalls the key event that forced him to quit working in the port of Marseille: “After the second day, I sat and drank by the quay side, compensating for lost bodily fluids with beer and lemonade, when on the back page of Le Petit Marseillais44, under an advertisement for powder against headaches, I read a little news. In South Serbia45, members of a secret association that called themselves „comitadjis46‟ did some serious bombings. There were casualties, but their attack on the Orient Express failed. The secret association was marked with the letters IMRO: Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization.”47 This little bit of news stirred his emotions. That moment he described in another autobiographical book Eyes on the back; looking backward at books and contemporaries (Ogen op de rug; Terugkijkend naar boeken en tijdgenoten). “To the surprise of my table neighbor, with my sharp knife I suddenly cut out a short article, left the newspaper, and quickly went away.”48 44

Le Petit Marseillais was a regional newspaper issued in Marseille between 1898 and 1944. 45 It refers to the Vardar part of Macedonia, the territory of the present-day Republic of Macedonia, which the Serbs had called “Southern Serbia”, viewing it as unbreakable part of Serbia. 46 Comitadji or comita (from the Turkish word “komitacı” (from French comité (“committee”)) + - cı) is the name for a member of a unit of resistance fighters. By tradition this name applies to the ordinary members of IMRO that were under the command of their voyvodas. 47 A. den Doolaard, Het leven van een landloper, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1958, p. 52 48 A. den Doolaard, Ogen op de rug; Terugkijkend naar boeken en tijdgenoten, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1971, p. 52

“The first generation lived for the ideal of freedom and died for it.” (A. den Doolaard). In the picture: a band of IMRO comitadjis.

He decides that he has a unique opportunity to report close up on what is happening in Macedonia. Just hours after reading this news, den Doolaard was already seated on the night train from Marseille to Milan. There he had to catch another train to Belgrade. His last money was spent on the train ticket and some food. Such an action seems extremely impulsive, but not unusual for A. den Doolaard. “Even in school the word „Macedonia‟ for me had a magical sound. Among all the still unknown landscapes, for me only Macedonia had an individually recognizable character, which from the atlas stared at me with the round eyes of its mountain lakes, attractive and alluring as the eyes of my first school love, that resembled a forget-menot49.”50 49

Forget-me-not (scientific name: myosotis) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae that are commonly called forget-me-nots. 50 A. den Doolaard, Ogen op de rug; Terugkijkend naar boeken en tijdgenoten, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1971, p. 51

The challenge was real. The country with its beautiful lakes was also the place where someone had tried to blow up the most celebrated train of all time. At that time, the writer was 30 years old and he had only written several books of a different kind. He had already abandoned his former life as a book keeper and was now firmly determined to live only by his writing. Occasional employment as a street photographer or general laborer, he viewed as merely transitional to a professional career as a journalist and writer. And Macedonia appeared to be an inexhaustible source of topics for writing, especially because of developments concerning the Macedonian Question. A. den Doolaard left Marseille as a dockhand and arrived in Belgrade as A. den Doolaard the journalist. He carried the newspaper clipping with him, as well as the thought of the ultimate goal of his journey. In Belgrade, he arrived without money, but after three weeks work as a photographer of folk motifs, he earned enough to be able to continue the journey. He sold the negatives to the secretary of the Yugoslav news agency in Belgrade, who even gave him a free ticket to the south. Even before stepping onto Macedonian soil, the Dutchman had been trying to create a clearer image of the country in his mind, a place he had already fallen in love with while still a school boy. He describes one of his first hints of the country's existence: â&#x20AC;&#x153;In the twenties by chance it fell into my hands a French book about secret associations: Decembrists51, Mafia52, Sinn Fein53, Black Hand54 and 51

Revolutionary movement of Russian officers against the absolute power of the Russian monarchy. 52 Criminal organization from the Italian island of Sicily. 53 Irish nationalistic party founded in 1905. 54 Serbian secret organization founded in 1911 with the aim to unite all Serbs in a single state.

IMRO, the abbreviation of the „Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization‟.”55 Books offered him little real knowledge and his idea of Macedonia was full of contradictions. The magic sound of the name obscured his understanding of the recent political events related to the actions of IMRO and the historical events from the beginning of the century. Early on, however, it is clear that he intends to describe Macedonia without intermediaries or interpreters of the Macedonian situation. In any case, the most glorious years of the Orient Express are not the most glorious years for Macedonia! While they were traveling along the railway line Skopje - Thessaloniki and back, the passengers of the Orient Express could revel in the beauty of the deep river valleys and the carefully tended fields of wheat, tobacco, sunflower, cotton... Strangers could see the more exotic face of the country, as well. Each station had its charm, as images and sounds from the West and the Orient mingled. Here, one could hear the languages of all Macedonian nationalities and see the traditional mix of colors and cuts of dress. However, the majority of passengers were only passing through and did not see the full picture of the country. They had no idea of what went on across the invisible other side of the hills that lay along both sides of the track. For the rich and spoiled travelers from Europe, Macedonia was merely a first taste of the exotic Orient. Moreover, for most of them it was incomprehensible why anyone in Macedonia would blow up such a wondrous and beautiful train as the Orient Express. Nor did the newspapers offer a clearer picture. Most journalists based their writings on information from the consulates or from the news agencies of the Balkan countries. If they ever came to Macedonia, usually they would spend their time in the cafes or in the offices of the local authorities. Because of narrow self interest or deceit, they would 55

A. den Doolaard, Ogen op de rug; Terugkijkend naar boeken en tijdgenoten, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1971, p. 51

speak only for one or another of the interested parties in the dispute over Macedonia. Thus, there was enormous confusion and very few people knew what was really happening. Den Doolaard knew that the truth could be found only on the other side of the Macedonian hills, invisible to those in the seats of the Orient Express. “Once I found myself in Macedonia, I found out immediately that I had my fingers tangled in political intrigues. Former Macedonia, a vilayet (province) of the Turkish Empire, under the peace agreements had been divided into three parts. The Slavspeaking population from the Greek part was largely gone. Yugoslavia had won the biggest part. The chauvinist Yugoslav government, headed by a Serbian king, claimed that all Macedonians were Serbs for centuries, while the Bulgarians, who were squeezed into a narrow chain of mountains, stubbornly claimed what they still claim: all Macedonians are Bulgarians!”56 In fact, it was Greece that took the biggest part. The Bulgarians had sought to grab all of Macedonia and in the end got barely a tenth of the loot. Therefore, they have continued their pretensions to the rest of Macedonia and they relied on IMRO, which freely acted from Bulgarian territory, to gain this end. IMRO supported the “liberation and unification of Macedonia”, but it also suited the Greater Bulgarian interest to expand Bulgarian influence into the whole of Macedonia. Until 1934, when the organization was banned and disbanded, the Bulgarian state had strong links with the pro-Bulgarian wing of IMRO. Relations between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria were always tense, but the internal situation in both countries and the larger environment did not allow them to go to open warfare on a broader scale. 56

A. den Doolaard, Ogen op de rug; Terugkijkend naar boeken en tijdgenoten, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1971, p. 53

A. den Doolaard in Macedonia (1932)

Propaganda is part of every political and military struggle, and A. den Doolaard had to face this fact immediately upon his arrival in the Balkans: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The news agency in Belgrade and the Bulgarian Consulate provided me, free of charge, all arguments [on the Macedonian Question,] in the form of piles of books and brochures. After I read them, I literally and figuratively tossed out all of that historical science and hysterical propaganda, and left. I needed people, not paper.â&#x20AC;?57 57

Ibid., p. 53

His first meeting with his “love from school days”, did not disappoint den Doolaard. She was a beauty. At each step, he enjoyed the diversity and perfection of nature, which at that time did not suffer the effects of industry, and still had its pristine beauty. He most admired the lakes, as well as the wild rivers flowing at the foot of the tall mountains. He was equally impressed by the Macedonian songs and the variety of folk costumes, and by the frescoes in the medieval churches, which were little known or studied at that time by the outside world. His fascination with these things was expressed in the 1930's in the novel The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies. And all that he left for later because his first visit was motivated by another thread. He wanted to know more about the IMRO, the attack on the Orient Express, and the general political situation. His commitment to this subject was provoked by the darker side of life at that time. But a few steps away from the railway line and out of the carriages of the Orient Express, Macedonia was a sharp contrast to the image seen from the train. “Macedonia was filthy; everything, houses, animals, people, were often choked with the dirt. To venture out meant enduring clouds of dust and swarms of flies. Only once in all my travels before the war, in the bungalow of a British mining engineer, did I sleep between clean sheets. Further, the (now eliminated) mosquito bites passed on malaria to me, which I struggled with for three years. However, I was madly obsessed with this country with its unhealthy sun, wild past and turbulent present.”58 Every Macedonian knows the “turbulent present” to be a continuation of the Macedonian “wild past”: 58

Ibid., p. 56-57

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Why this fear in their eyes in a remote village, hidden at the end of a red canyon with a meandering stream surrounded by poplars that rustle in the breeze, when armed gendarmes suddenly appear? Why the threatening blows from rifle butts when they storm onto a farm? Why the strict checking of my documents on every mountain pass, at guard posts where a high signal pole held a bundle of straw that smelled of petroleum? Why, even in the villages, which according to their costumes, were Serbian, did the villagers walk behind the plow with a rifle on their backs?â&#x20AC;?59 The answer to all these questions was very simple. It consisted of four letters! A peasant with his finger wrote the letters in the dusty road and immediately deleted them with his sandal. The possibility of attack by IMRO frightened the Yugoslav authorities and the recent Serbian colonists in more remote regions of the kingdom, who were resettled in the fertile valleys of Macedonia. After each attack, the anger of the authorities was directed against the peaceful Macedonian population. So fear reigned in all the villages of the land of Macedonia. Everyone was afraid of someone and suffered equally in the labyrinth of violence. A. den Doolaard exposed the situation in Macedonia during the dictatorship (1929 - 1934), of the Serbian King Alexander I Karadjordjevich in Yugoslavia, and at a time of violent attacks by IMRO. At that time, the territory of Vardar Macedonia represented only 10% of the territory of royal Yugoslavia but had nearly 70% of the police forces of the kingdom. It is possible that den Doolaard did not know exact numbers, but he was well aware of the sizable presence of armed men in uniforms and their actions everywhere in Macedonia. 59

Ibid., p. 54

When the gendarmes killed four comitadjis in a remote mountainous region, the Dutch journalist was invited to photograph the dead and report on the success of Yugoslavia`s authorities in the fight against IMRO. There he met the man who fired his imagination for the writing of another book. Kosta was among the peasants who were ordered to remove the bodies and weapons of those killed. He had worked in America and had returned with excellent knowledge of English, and he was willing to talk to the Dutch seeker of truth. He recounted his involvement in the struggle for freedom of Macedonia, first against the Ottomans and later against the Serbs, the origins of IMRO and the divisions within the organization. As a result of his conversations with Kosta, den Doolaard became convinced that he must write a book about Macedonia. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The stories he recounted to me offered more than enough allegations to intrigue me. It had to be a novel about the rise and fall of libertarian ideals, embodied in the tragic fate of several Macedonian families. The first generation lived for the ideal of freedom and died for it. The latter made a compromise with the Bulgarian rulers, still determined to achieve this ideal. However, precisely from there, the third generation was born into a mafia-like situation that sold to the highest bidder.â&#x20AC;?60 The stories told by Kosta were only a departure point for the writing of the novel. The author had to supplement this with additional information. Apart from photographing murdered comitadjis, he sought meetings with living members of the new generation. Diplomats and journalists in Belgrade assured him that IMRO would never allow access to its territory in that 60

Ibid., p. 57

part of Macedonia under Bulgarian rule. Even so, den Doolaard left for Sofia, and hence for Bansko. At the “border” between Bulgaria and Pirin Macedonia, he was greeted by four comitadjis who allowed him to enter “their territory”. He did what other journalists had not dared to do and began to reveal the secrets of the mysterious IMRO. Among its members, he met real fanatics, who because of their commitment to the ideal of freedom, delusion or adventure, at any given moment were ready to kill or be killed61. He talked to their bosses, who from the comfort of their warm, clean and safe shelters, were gambling with the fate of the Macedonian people. While their mouths were full of words about the liberation of Macedonia, in their eyes he saw greed for power and money. Den Doolaard unmasked their “fight for freedom” after a number of times personally witnessing the terror they imposed on the population of Pirin Macedonia. After publishing several articles about it, he suddenly received warnings to leave as soon as possible, after which two comitadjis escorted him back to the “border of their territory”. However, den Doolaard saw enough to trace the entire path of development of the organization. He was now ready to describe it in a “novel about the rise and fall of libertarian thought”, with the risk of losing old friends and making new enemies. While others wrote vague words about what was happening in Macedonia, den Doolaard wanted to clarify why, revealing those involved in the Macedonian drama and their real motives. To this end, he reconstructed events from 1903, when IMRO was at the height of its power, functioning as a secret state within the Ottoman state, until 1934, when the organization was banned and disbanded. Therefore, he interviewed participants from all the generations from all involved parties. As the Orient Express constantly went from the West to the East and back, the author also was 61

In 1932 he met Velichko D. Kerin (1897-1934), known as Vlado Chernozemski, but he could not have guessed that two years later he would kill the Yugoslav king.

coming, going and then returning to Macedonia. He collected factual information, wrote it down and supplemented it. Thus, he began writing about the history of the Macedonian liberation movement from its brightest moments to the most disgraceful years filled with bloody fratricidal battles. The birth of the banned book He began the Express to the East (OriĂŤnt-Express), in the French capital, the hometown and station of departure for the most famous train of all time. The first pages of one of the most successful books of his career den Doolaard set down in November of 1931. Then, as he continued working in the Balkans: in the period between April - May 1932 he continued researching and writing about the route Sofia Hisar - Bansko - Belgrade - Skopje - Thessaloniki. At the same time he was engaged in the writing of the novel Express to the East while roaming throughout the Balkans by train, on horseback or on foot (once he walked from Thessaloniki as far as Sarajevo). Yet, den Doolaard still had enough time and creative power to write other books, as well. During that period he published the novel The White Silence (De witte stilte, 1932) and the travelogues The Savages of Europe (De wilden van Europa, 1932) and Four Months with the Comitadjis, Licensed Murderers (Quatre mois chez les comitadjis, meurtriers patentĂŠs, 1932). During that period he created the short novel The Inn with the Horseshoe (De herberg met het hoefijzer, 1933) which has been reprinted numerous times in Dutch and been translated into several languages, and in 1934 it won an award from the Association of Dutch literature. Inspired by the remarkable success of this book, den Doolaard promised his publisher Emanuel Querido that Express to the East, his new book about the Balkans, would be ready by spring of 1934. Due to the brisk sales of The Inn with the Horseshoe, which is also set in the Balkans, i.e. Albania, many bookstores pre-ordered the next novel, but its appearance was de-

layed. For this reason, some bookstores began to cancel orders, which prompted the author to rush to complete the Express to the East. The final chapters of the story were completed from March to June of 1934 in The Hague. Here, one can say that he truly returned home, to familiar surroundings, but he did not remain there for long. In July and August of 1934, he retreated to the peaceful mountain village of Kals in the Austrian part of Tyrol and the city of Zakopane in Poland, to do the final work on the book.

Express to the East appeared on the 1st of October of 1934. The pistol shots that went off nine days later in the French city of Marseille quickly determined the fate of the latest book by A. den Doolaard. The assassination of Yugoslavia`s king Alexander I Karagjorgjevich (pictured above) was carried out by the IMRO, and concerned Macedonia and the Macedonian Question, all those themes of Express to the East. In the days that followed the newspapers published various commentaries on the mysterious IMRO. A. den Doolaard himself thought they were mostly â&#x20AC;&#x153;sensationalistic and vagueâ&#x20AC;?.

Quite by chance Express to the East appeared in circumstances that broadened the readership. The book achieved success beyond anything the author could have imagined. By the end of 1935, the book was issued over ten times, and at the same time was also published in German. The book stirred the interest of readers throughout Europe and soon appeared in translations in other languages. In 1935 the publishing house Sphinx of Prague issued the book in Czech, under the title Orient Express. Under the same title, the Parisian publisher Albin Michel published it in French. That year the novel was also published in the U.S.A. The Smith & Haas publishing house of New York issued it in English, under the title Express to the East. On 18 November 1935, the Times published the following comment about the author: “The author of Express to the East is almost as mysterious as the organization of which he writes. Den Doolaard, which means The Wanderer, is the pseudonym of C. Spoelstra, 34-year-old Dutch novelist, adventurer, roving editor of an outdoor-sports magazine, now traveling in the Near East. Although his novels are popular in Holland, they have not won the endorsement of intellectual bigwigs, who created a sensation when they refused to award him the Dutch equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. In a brief introduction to Express to the East, den Doolaard mentions his months of wandering through Macedonia, „sometimes thirsty and penniless and dirty, sometimes drinking iced plum brandy in the luxurious restaurant wagon of the Orient Express‟, and hints that he has taken part in the activity of the organization he describes. Noting his detailed account of conspiratorial methods, it is a likely conclusion that den Doolaard did not get his knowledge of them exclusively from books.”62 62

Times, 18 November 1935

Because of a variety of circumstances related to the Macedonian Question, the novel captured the attention of political circles, as well. The book was not translated into any of the Balkan languages, but it was roundly condemned by governments there. “Bulgarians pronounced the book proSerbian; Serbs declared it too pro-Bulgarian; Macedonians assumed it to be, at least in parts, insufficiently pro-Macedonian! The French, German and English translations in Yugoslavia were banned; the Czech translation in the name of the then still existing Little Entente63 was revised...”64 Obviously, the brochures and the books with Serbian and Bulgarian arguments for the “Serbian” or “Bulgarian” character of Macedonia really ended under the feet of A. den Doolaard. The Dutch writer did not accept the game of the Balkan political powers, and that is why they were so hostile to his book. They were particularly incensed when, in Express to the East, the author employs terms derived from the “magic” word Macedonia: Macedonians, Macedonian dialect, Macedonian sky, Macedonian commanders, Macedonian army... The hostility to the book transferred to the author, who found himself in the crossfire of both praise and attack. The range of reactions and the insights they offered gave him a much more mature view of the Macedonian situation. Despite all the praise and rave reviews that he received from various people, he took a more self-critical attitude and declared that “the book has weak pages”. So he decided to rewrite it completely, and the new version was released in 1940. 63

Little Entente is the name for the political alliance of Yugoslavia, Romania and Czechoslovakia, which existed before World War II. 64 А. den Doolaard, Oriënt-Express, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1940, p. 6

In the introduction to the revised version, in December 1939 he wrote: “While browsing through the final edition of Express to the East, some readers may notice that the book contains three chapters less than in the original edition.”65 The careful regard of the author for this book was dictated by the subject matter, as well as by his overall attitude towards Macedonia and its neighbors: “Macedonia has always been an apple of discord among the Serbs, the Bulgarians and the Macedonian Slavs, who were themselves divided into camps. In the writing, I chose the side of the Macedonians, who inter alias, had preserved the purest, the original, most majestic, federative idea of freedom, which they wanted to see expand throughout Europe; and in my enthusiasm to defend them between Scylla and Charybdis, I stressed the requisite historical inequities, which now, helped by a more mature understanding, I have tried to soften.”66 The Dutchman wanted to stay on good terms with all of the nations of the Balkans, to avoid being drawn into their disputes, and neither desiring nor intending to unravel the Macedonian knot. He wanted to remain neutral where such a thing was impossible. “The famous German historian Herman Wendell has already come to know that every stranger who dares to write about Macedonia comes into conflict with all concerned nations. That was the case with me.”67 65

Ibid., p. 5 Ibid., p. 5 67 Ibid., p. 6 66

A. den Doolaard always remained a defender of the ideals of freedom and peace. Since the early emergence of Nazism in Germany, his articles warned of the dangers that were being overlooked at the time in the Netherlands and Europe. After Europe had already been destroyed by the Nazis, den Doolaard raised his voice against the new danger, which was threatening to destroy the human race. In the period after World War II, he took part in the street demonstrations and regularly wrote articles and letters of protest to politicians, opposing nuclear weapons; in 1983 he published these articles in his last book I am against (Ik ben tegen)68. With the same zeal, he raised his voice against the Communist dictatorship in Yugoslavia. Alexander Batkoski (born in Vevchani, 1939) spent his retirement in Ohrid as an active woodcarver, and sometimes working as a tour guide. He had the opportunity to socialize with the Dutch writer, and to develop close friendly relations. On 18 November, 2011, in Ohrid, he gave his testimony: “I met A. den Doolaard in 1972. At that time, Ohrid saw many Dutch tourists and the credit for that was attributed to den Doolaard, because he celebrated the city in the Netherlands with his book The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies. He was invited to be a guest of the city of Ohrid, in order to express appreciation for his contribution to the city's cultural life. I was hired to escort him on a short trip around Macedonia. The group included me, him and his wife, and a driver. He liked Macedonia very much. I remember, when going down the road from Mavrovo to the south, he said something, which I can never forget. He said: „The Lord for five days was creating the world and on the sixth day created only Macedonia, and that is why she is so beautiful‟!” 68

A. den Doolaard, Ik ben tegen, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1983

Alexander Batkoski (Ohrid, 18. 11. 2011)

At their first meeting in September 1972, Batkoski received a copy of The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies, signed by the author. One year later, den Doolaard again came to Ohrid and then gave him a copy of the Express to the East with the following dedication: „To our good friend Alexander Batkoski, this novel about Macedonia in the years 1903 (Ilinden69) to 1934. With a heartfelt good-bye! A. den Doolaard, June 1973.“70 Batkoski continues his recollection of den Doolaard: 69

Ilinden is the Macedonian word for “Elijah‟s Day”. On this day (2nd of August) in 1903 began the largest Macedonian uprising against the Ottoman Empire. Later it became a date with symbolic meaning, representing Macedonia`s struggle for freedom. 70 For the original text, see page 66 of this book.

“A. den Doolaard was particularly impressed by my learning the Dutch language. He even invited me to visit him at his home, in Hoenderloo. I never thought I would ever go to the Netherlands, but I happened to go. Then, I went also to Hoenderloo, but he was not at home, and we did not meet. However, I was honored by such an important man having invited me as a guest at his home. Later, we met again in 1974...” In July 1974, Batkoski received a new gift. In his dedication of the book The Inn with the Horseshoe (De herberg met het hoefijzer) were the signatures of both the author and his wife: “For Alexander Batkoski, to learn more Dutch, from his friends A. den Doolaard and Erie den Doolaard. Hoenderloo, July 1974.” That year marked the last meeting of the two friends. Batkoski remembers it well: “At that time in Ohrid the Conference of the International PEN took place. I worked in the hotel „Desaret‟, as a receptionist. A. den Doolaard was among the participants; he also stayed in the „Desaret‟. One day he came to me, very angry and offended. At the conference, he had declared that there was no freedom in Yugoslavia and Yugoslav authors did not have full freedom of expression. He was fiercely attacked by Yugoslav writers who claimed they were free; they could write whatever wanted... Since then den Doolaard has never come back to Ohrid. I think he was offended by the attitude towards him ...” Among the most oppressed subjects of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918-1941), Macedonians turned into the

most faithful defenders of socialist Yugoslavia (1944-1991). Any attack on Yugoslavia was seen as an attack on the sacred state. In Macedonia, nobody spoke publicly of den Doolaard, nor was he translated. Because of his antiCommunism, his Macedonism was also rejected. Even so, he has not been entirely forgotten. Exploring the fate of the novel Express to the East, we come to Sherefedin Mustafa. He was born in Macedonia, but has long lived in the Netherlands. He works as a translator, and, in addition to other writers, he has translated den Doolaard. He translated the novel The Inn with the Horseshoe (De herberg met het hoefijzer) from Dutch into Albanian, first issued in Skopje in 1993,71 and later in Tirana in 200572. Here he writes in his email message of 11 March 2011: “Dear Mr. Yuzmeski, Thank you for your message, and I am glad to hear that there is an interest in the work and life of A. den Doolaard in Macedonia. I had the honor to meet and talk to the author many times. Perhaps you know that I have translated his novel The Inn with the Horseshoe into Albanian. From the outset, I was convinced that his best novel is Express to the East, which describes a significant period of Macedonia`s history from 1903 until World War II. Assuming this to be the case, I translated the novel in 1996. Unfortunately, all efforts to publish the translation in Macedonia were unsuccessful. I intend soon to publish it on my website. 71

A. den Doolaard, Bujtina me potkua, Flaka e Vëllazërimit, Shkup, 1993 72 A. den Doolaard, Bujtina me potkua, Skenderbeg books, Tiranë, 2005

Heartfelt greetings from the Netherlands, and excuse me that from my mobile (phone), I cannot answer in Cyrillic. Sherefedin Mustafaâ&#x20AC;&#x153; Those with the greatest interest in the work and life of A. den Doolaard in Macedonia were those who had known him personally or have had strong ties with the Netherlands and the Dutch. A monument was erected in Ohrid in 2006, in honor of the author, and for the first time one of his books was published in Macedonian. That book is The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies, translated under the title Wedding in Ohrid. For now, Express to the East remains accessible only to readers with knowledge of the Dutch language. A story about the flourishing and the decline of a libertarian ideal Living languages are constantly subject to change; and the Dutch language is no exception. Den Doolaard himself was present on the literary scene long enough to be affected by these changes. Therefore, in the later releases of his works there is a modernizing of the language with the sole purpose of making the book more acceptable to younger readers. The changes in the Dutch language in the middle of the 20th century involve the simplification of spelling and grammar and reduction of case forms. These changes are particularly noticeable between various editions of Express to the East. However, even after all the changes in the original Dutch text, the contents remain essentially the same. The final version of the novel is composed of 17 chapters, all with different titles and divided into four separate parts. Part One consists of the following seven chapters: Macedonia, July 1903 (MacedoniĂŤ, juli 1903), Milja`s birth

(Milja`s geboorte), Damian`s death (Damian`s dood), Milja`s baptism (Milja`s doop), The flight to Kratovo (De vlucht naar Kratovo), Milja`s youth (Milja`s jeugd), The Great War (De groote oorlog). The first section of the book begins with a quotation from the Bible, in which an unknown Macedonian addresses St. Paul, begging for help: „During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him „Come over to Macedonia and help us‟.” (Acts 16:9). The quote is written in Latin and Dutch. In this part, the action of the story takes place between the Ilinden Uprising and World War I, while the other parts are related to the postwar period. A second section consists of the following three chapters: Traveling salesman of sewing machines (De reiziger in naaimachines), Voyvoda Bora rides over the hills (Vojvoda Bora rijdt over de heuvels), The bundle of straw falls (De strowis valt). This second portion of the book starts with an excerpt from a Macedonian revolutionary song: Where is Gotse,73 where is Dame74, where are the old voyvodas75? 73

Gotse Delchev (1872-1903) is the most legendary hero of the Macedonian liberation movement against the Ottoman rule, and ideologist of IMRO who strongly opposed any foreign involvement in the Macedonian revolution. 74 Dame (Damian) Gruev (1871-1906) was a co-founder and one of the most remarkable leaders of IMRO in its early phase of development. 75 Voyvoda (derived from Old Slavic, literally meaning “one who leads warriors” or “war leader”) is a title that originally denoted the principal commander of a military force. The word gradually came to denote the governor of a province. In English, the title is usually translated as “prince” or “duke”. Under the Ottoman Empire, the leaders of rebels in Macedonia, Bulgaria and Serbia were called “voyvodas”. Also, the leaders of IMRO were called voyvodas, and each voyvoda commanded a band of comitadjis.

Gotse Delchev

The three chapters of Part Three are: Damian Drangov`s daughter (De dochter van Damian Drangov), Todor`s secret life (Todor`s duister leven), The death of a haiduk (De dood van een Haidoek). At the beginning of this section there is a Dutch translation of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Poem of the insurgentâ&#x20AC;? by the Bulgarian poet and participant in the Macedonian revolutionary movement, Peyo K. Yavorov (1878-1914). The last four chapters are in Section Four: Christo`s escape (Christo`s vlucht), Firing guns (De parabellums knallen), Infernal Machine (Paklena machina), Milja`s return Though most of them were men, Macedonian history records some prominent female voyvodas who commanded bands of male comitadjis.

(Milja`s terugkeer). This portion also begins with a quote from the Bible: “For all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52) The struggle of the Macedonian people for freedom during the early 20th century, and the activities of IMRO, as the most prominent guiding force of that struggle, are the main themes and the central pillar of the action in Express to the East. The history of IMRO in the novel is presented in three different phases, portrayed according to the view and narrative skills of the author. All events in the novel are set in motion in order to provide the best possible explanation of these three phases of activity. The main character is Milja; the novel begins with her birth and follows her through her entire lifetime and ends with her death. She was born on Ilinden in 1903. Her father is a voyvoda, and he dies like a hero for the freedom of Macedonia. He represents the first generation of revolutionaries that strove for liberation of Macedonia from the terror of the Ottomans. The situation in Macedonia is complicated by the country's division among Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia. The fight for freedom turns into a struggle for unification of the country as a whole. Milja belongs to the second generation of fighters, who hope to achieve freedom through terroristic action. As a young girl, she joins IMRO and actively participates in the fight for freedom, this time against the Serbs in the Vardar part of Macedonia. She meets the leader of IMRO, Todor Alexandrov, and becomes one of his supporters. After his death, the organization is taken over by new leaders who are interested only in power and money. All their energy is spent in internecine struggles and the satisfying of their personal interests. In the name of “liberation and unification of Macedonia”, Milja is given the task of setting dynamite under the bridge over which the Orient Express will pass. Its destruction should attract the attention of the West to the terrible plight of Macedonia. At the same time, she receives a promise that they will reveal the murderer of Todor Alexandrov to her. The killer is already dead, but Mil-

ja does not know this. The organizers want to get rid of her, too. When the bomb goes off, Milja dies. She gets buried in a secret grave, in a garden, in a coffin made from the wreckage of the Orient Express. Thus the story ends. The realism of A. den Doolaard The main feature of stylistic expression in the Express to the East is the documentary form of storytelling. Many elements in the novel correspond to specific entries in the author's autobiographical books, as well as generally known events in the first half of the last century. The author sought to reliably portray events in Macedonia, and in this regard, he was quite successful. He managed this through the dramatization of a story which has sufficient tension to hold the reader's attention. At the same time, the story has the air of an extended press release, offering an abundance of descriptions of events and conditions of the times in which the action takes place in the novel. When talking about realism, it must be understood as a concept that goes beyond the Balkan perception of reality, especially regarding the ethnicity of the Macedonians and their right of ownership of Macedonia. Let us review the final version of Express to the East, revised in 1939 and published one year later. The first chapter entitled “Macedonia, July 1903”, begins: “Never before was grain harvested so soon as in that summer in Macedonia. Every day, the sun followed its path over the parched region, from the mountain Belasica to the east, over the unbearably glittering Vardar, toward snow-capped Korab on the western border.”76 76

A. den Doolaard, Oriënt-Express, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1940, p. 9

The opening text defines the time and spatial boundaries of the action. It begins in 1903, in the space between the Belasica and Korab Mountains. It is the territory of the present-day Republic of Macedonia. While reading, one must always bear in mind that the book was created and was at the height of its popularity during the period 1931-1939, when the name Macedonia was forbidden. For the author, there is no doubt concerning the name. The son of a priest, he had the opportunity early in life to read the biblical texts that mention Macedonia, and the school atlas and other literature often revealed the same name. So throughout the novel, he named the country as Macedonia, whether talking about it as a whole or its distinct parts under the rule of different countries. For the Dutch writer, there is also no doubt about the essence of the Ilinden Uprising. It is “the struggle of Christian Slavs against their Islamic masters” (...den strijd der Christilijke Slaven tegen hun Islamitische meesters.)77. Henceforth, the text mentions liberation and unification of Macedonia as a separate state or in a Balkan federation. Everyone who wrote about Macedonia had to face the thorny issue of nationality and language of the dominant ethnic group. In what language did the inhabitants within the area from Belasica to Korab speak? What are the nationalities of the characters in the novel? At the very beginning of the novel, the author warns that in Macedonia they speak the Macedonian language. The first chapter introduces us to one of the main characters. It is voyvoda Damian Drangov from the village of Radovo near Gostivar “...who besides Macedonian, also knew French and Greek, and a little German...” (…die behalve Macedonisch, ook Fransch en Grieksch kende, en een beetje Duitsch…)78. Throughout the novel the author neutralizes the term “Macedonian language”, which is replaced by the expression 77 78

Ibid., p. 16 Ibid., p. 11

“the same dialect” or defined as “the Macedonian dialect is almost like Bulgarian”. At a time when the Macedonian language is brutally banned and most Macedonian writers write in the Serbian or Bulgarian languages, den Doolaard hints, however, that the Macedonian population has its own language or dialect that is “almost identical”, but not completely the same as the Bulgarian language. When it comes to the nationality of the Macedonians, the author speaks of “Christian Slavs” who, according to the church they attend are considered “Serbs” or “Bulgarians”. Describing the village of Nagorichane, in the fifth chapter (The escape to Kratovo) the author says: “The population was mixed: Bulgarians and Serbs together. They spoke the same dialect, but belonged to two churches.”79 The average reader would immediately think that here one talks about the ethnicity of the villagers: Bulgarians and Serbs. However, many would wonder: if the peasants were indeed of two different nationalities, what is this “same dialect” they spoke? Was it Serbian, Bulgarian or something else? For those more familiar with the situation from the beginning of the 20th century it becomes clear that it is the same (Macedonian) people with the same (Macedonian) “dialect” that is divided into two separate Orthodox Church organizations and, therefore, their identity is primarily religious, not ethnic or national. To explain this phenomenon clearly, the author speaks in another place through Milja, who at one point says: “We are one of those unfortunate dismembered families where one claims to be a Serb, and another a Bulgarian. For us, it is the worst. Only I

Ibid., p. 82

approached the Exarchate; all my brothers, there are three, remained followers of the Patriarchate.”80 Thus, the author indirectly explains that Milja is “Bulgarian” only because of her acceptance of the Bulgarian Exarchate (Orthodox Church of Bulgaria), and her three brothers are “Serbs” just because they belong to the Serbian Patriarchate (Orthodox Church of Serbia). They remain blood relatives; they carry the same genes, and speak the same language. They share the same Orthodox Christian religion, but already as members of two competing national churches, they are forced to fight for the interest of their new homelands with a hostility which spreads among family members. That is the greatest disaster for the Macedonians of which the author speaks through the character of Milja. Even when approached by the Bulgarian Exarchate, which was politically and culturally linked to the state of Bulgaria, the majority of Macedonians continued to put Macedonia and its interests first. The author was informed of this, and wrote: “Serbian comitadjis never would have fought for an independent Macedonia as the Bulgarians did, who in the first place were Macedonians and only later Bulgarians.”81 A. den Doolaard was aware of the fact that he cannot unravel the knot that is the “Macedonian question”, but he felt the need to inform the world of the real situation in Macedonia and to show it the source of the misunderstandings. Could he do it without affecting any of the interested parties and without causing new headaches for himself? Because of the criticism he directed at their fascist politics,

80 81

Ibid., p. 84 Ibid., p. 82

Austria, Germany, Italy and Romania did not allow him into their territories. The same happened in Bulgaria. “From my personal experiences in Bulgarian Macedonia and of IMRO, in general, I wrote three articles entitled The glory and the fall of the comitadjis. Once they appeared in Amsterdam`s Handelsblad I was also expelled from Bulgaria.”82 No matter what he wrote, he would always face claims that he worked for one or the other side in the dispute, as it happened. As a matter of fact, in certain moments, the author, frankly, admits that he chose a side in the dispute over Macedonia. He stood on the side of the Macedonians who lived with the true ideal of freedom. It was Kosta, along with other poor Macedonian peasants, who had nothing but their sincerity to offer; they had no books and brochures filled with delusions, nor money to buy him a ticket for the Orient Express. While others showed only a hypocritical concern for the freedom of the Macedonians, thinking only of how to enslave and strip them of their identity.

The commitment of A. den Doolaard For sixty years the author took special care to explain himself in the book. In some editions of the novel, he wrote an afterword or a foreword explaining the circumstances around it and what he wanted to achieve through the book. The creation of Express to the East is comprehensively described in the autobiographical book Eyes on the back; looking backward at books and contemporaries (Ogen op de rug; Terugkijkend naar boeken en tijdgenoten) from 1971. On the first of January 1994, in the 93rd year of his life and only six months before his death, in the afterword to 82

A. den Doolaard, Ogen op de rug; Terugkijkend naar boeken en tijdgenoten, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1971, p. 59

the most recently released edition of the novel, den Doolaard once again explains his attitude towards Express to the East, and in general towards Macedonia, which many times he has proclaimed his second fatherland. As so many times in the past, he states once again that in 1913 Macedonia was divided among Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria. Furthermore, in order to avoid any confusion over the interpretation of its contents, he claims that the novel Express to the East is dedicated to the fight for freedom of the Macedonians as distinct from the Serbs, and in particular, from the Bulgarians, whom, as a nation, he considered to be of Asian and nonSlavic origin, although they had the most propaganda about Macedonia. Regarding the IMRO, he still considers it to be an organization of idealists fighting for the freedom of Macedonia, but one that turned into an organization of terrorists who ultimately became gangsters, who murdered each other in the cafes and streets of Sofia.83 Although it was not conceived as a historical novel, Express to the East, for Dutch students, became a textbook in Macedonian history. In the country of the author, the novel was introduced as compulsory reading for schools, and thus through classes in literature students were taught the history of the Macedonian people. Aware of the role it has had and will continue to play, in telling the story of the struggle of the Macedonian people for freedom, he took great care to explain himself in the book Express to the East, which also explains our own special concern for the author. As he attempted over the course of several years of dedicated work to make Macedonia accessible to the Dutch people, we have tried through this story to make A. den Doolaard accessible to the Macedonian people.

A. den Doolaard, OriĂŤnt-Express, Em. Queridoâ&#x20AC;&#x;s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1994, p. 240

THE LEGACY OF A. DEN DOOLAARD

100

101

A. DEN DOOLAARD â&#x20AC;&#x201C; QUOTES Elk fatsoenlijk mens schaamt zich altijd voor de regering, waaronder hij leven moet. Every decent person is always ashamed of the government under which he must live. Mensen komen en gaan, maar hun gedachten blijven waaien rond de aardbol als een onzichtbare wind. People come and go, but their thoughts continue to waft around the globe as an invisible wind. De eerste dode in elke oorlog is het gezond verstand. The first to die in every war is common sense. Oorlogen zijn de aardbevingen der geschiedenis; ze ontstaan schijnbaar even onverwacht en ze hebben even diepliggende, onvermijdelijke oorzaken. Wars are the earthquakes of history, they appear unexpectedly and apparently they have just as deep and unavoidable causes. Wij planten ons voort als bacteriĂŤn in een gelatine paradijs. We plant our survival as bacteria in a gelatin paradise. We hebben tussen wonderen geleefd maar hebben we het niet begrepen. We have lived amidst wonders, but we did not understand it.

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BOOKS BY A. DEN DOOLAARD84 1926

De verliefde betonwerker (gedichten) The cement worker in love (poetry)

1928

De wilde vaart (gedichten) The wild escape (poetry)

1929

De laatste ronde (roman) The last round (novel)

1930

Van camera, ski en propeller. Film-avonturen en skionderricht in het Mont-Blanc gebied (reisbeschrijving) Camera, skis and propeller. Film adventures and ski instruction in the Mont Blanc area (travelogue)

1931

De druivenplukkers (roman) The grape harvesters (novel)

1932

Vier balladen (gedichten) Four ballades (poems)

1932

Hooge hoeden en pantserplaten (manifest) High hats and armor plates (manifest)

1932

De witte stilte (roman) The white silence (novel)

The English translations of the original Dutch titles given here are for reference use only, and they may or may not be equivalent to the English titles of A. den Doolaard`s books that were or might be translated eventually in the future.

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1932

De wilden van Europa (reportage) The savages of Europe (report)

1933

Van vrijheid en dood (reportage) Freedom and death (report)

1933

De herberg met het hoefijzer (roman) The inn with the horseshoe (novel)

1934

OriĂŤnt-Express (roman) Express to the East (novel)

1934

Quatre mois chez les comitadjis, meurtriers patentĂŠs (reportage) Four months with the comitadjis, licensed murderers (report)

1935

Oostenrijk (reportage) Austria (report)

1936

Wapen tegen wapen. Over het werk van socialistische journalisten in de fascistische landen (brochure; met L.J. van Looi) Weapon against weapon. About the work of socialist journalists in the fascist countries (brochure; with L. J. van Looi85)

1936

De grote verwildering (roman) The great savagery (novel)

1938

Het hakenkruis over Europa (reportage) The swastika over Europe (report)

1938

Door het land der lemen torens (reisbeschrijving) Through the land of the mud towers (travelogue)

Levinus van Looi (1897 - 1977) was a Dutch journalist.

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1939

Wampie. De roman van een zorgeloze zomer (roman) Wampie. The tale of a carefree summer (novel)

1939

De bruiloft der zeven zigeuners (roman) The wedding of the seven Gypsies (novel)

1939

Dolken en rozenkransen (novelle, verschenen als feuilleton in het weekblad Wij) Daggers and rosaries (novella, published in serial form in the weekly Wij (We))86

1944

Oranjehotel (sonnet) Oranje Hotel (sonnet)

1944

De partizanen en andere gedichten (gedichten) The partisans and other poems (poems)

1944

De vier ruiters (gedichten) The four riders (poems)

1944

Vooravond kerstmis 1944 (gedicht; met illustraties van Tyl) Christmas Eve 1944 (poem, with illustrations by Tyl)

1945

Nederland herdenkt 1940-1945: Drama der bezetting (naar ideeĂŤn van Carel Briels) The Netherlands commemorates 1940-1945: Drama of occupation (after ideas of Carel Briels)

1946

Dit is Walcheren (reportage; met Jef Last en Eduard Hoornik) This is Walcheren (report; with Jef Last87 and Eduard Hoornik88)

Historical novella about the death of the Yugoslav king Alexander I Karadjordjevich, published in a series from 11 August to 29 September 1939.

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1946

Europa tegen de Moffen (keuze uit radioredevoeringen) Europe against the Muffs (selection of radio speeches)

1946

Walcheren komt boven water (reportage) Walcheren comes above the water (report)

1946

Het spel der bevrijding (naar ideeĂŤn van Carel Briels) The play of the liberation (upon ideas by Carel Briels)

1947

Het verjaagde water (roman) The expelled water (novel)

1949

De gouden ploeg (toneelstuk; met Govert van de Meent) The golden team (play; with Govert van de Meent)

1953

Kleine mensen in de grote wereld (roman) Little people in the big world (novel)

1954

Het land van Tito (documentaire; met Erie den Doolaard) The land of Tito (documentary; with Erie den Doolaard)

Josephus Carel Franciscus (Jef) Last (1898 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1972), a Dutch writer. 88 Eduard (Ed) Jozef Antonie Marie Hoornik (1910 - 1970) was a Dutch poet - member of the Amsterdam School of Dutch literature (poets that portray ironic, cynical and rebellious views of reality in their verse). Initially he wrote on social themes. In his subsequent work there is the powerful presentation of a confrontation with death, the result of his personal experience as a survivor of the Nazi concentration camp Dachau. He wrote plays, novels and essays.

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1955

De toekomst in uw handen (manifest; met Cas Oorthuys) The future in your hands (manifest; with Cas Oorthuys)

1956

Joegoslavië, kaleidoscopisch reisland (reisbeschrijving; met Cas Oorthuys) Yugoslavia, kaleidoscopic travel country (travelogue; with Cas Oorthuys)

1956

Het land achter Gods rug (roman) The country behind God's back (novel)

1956

Dit is Joegoslavië (reisbeschrijving; met Cas Oorthuys) This is Yugoslavia (travelogue; with Cas Oorthuys)

1958

Dit is Griekenland; het vasteland (reisbeschrijving; met Cas Oorthuys) This is Greece; the mainland (travelogue; with Cas Oorthuys)

1958

Dit is Venetië (reisbeschrijving; met Cas Oorthuys) This is Venice (travelogue; with Cas Oorthuys)

1958

Het leven van een landloper (autobiografie) The life of a wanderer (autobiography)

1959

Dit is Griekenland; de eilanden (reisbeschrijving; met Cas Oorthuys) This is Greece; the islands (travelogue; with Cas Oorthuys)

1960

Grieken zijn geen goden (reisbeschrijving) Greeks are not gods (travelogue)

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1962

Prinsen, priesters en paria's (reisbeschrijving) Princes, priests and outcasts (travelogue)

1963

Vakantieland Joegoslavië (reisbeschrijving; met Cas Oorthuys) Holiday destination Yugoslavia (travelogue; with Cas Oorthuys) The same book in 1966 was republished under the new title “Holiday in Yugoslavia” (Vakantie in Joegoslavië).

1966

De goden gaan naar huis (roman) Gods go home (novel)

1967

Ontsporingen (verhalen) Derailments (short stories) In 1976 this collection was republished under the new title “Behind the blind wall” (Achter de blinde muur).

1971

Ogen op de rug; Terugkijkend naar boeken en tijdgenoten (autobiografie) Eyes on the back; looking backward at books and contemporaries (autobiography)

1976

Samen is twee keer alleen (roman) Together is twice alone (novel)

1980

Londen en de zaak Van 't Sant (pamflet) London and the case of Van 't Sant (pamphlet)

1983

Ik ben tegen (essays) I am against (essays)

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SOURCES -

Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland 5, Den Haag, 2002 Den Doolaard, A., De bruiloft der zeven zigeuners, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1963 Den Doolaard, A., De goden gaan naar huis, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1966 Den Doolaard, A., Het leven van een landloper, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1958 Den Doolaard, А., Ik ben tegen, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1983 Den Doolaard, A., Ogen op de rug; Terugkijkend naar boeken en tijdgenoten, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1971 Den Doolaard, A., Oriënt-Express, Em. Querido‟s uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1940 - 1994 Hazeu, Wim, Het literair pseudoniemen boek, Amsterdam, 1987

Internet : - A. den Doolaard site: http://www.adendoolaard.nl

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THE AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK Misho Yuzmeski has lived nearly his entire life by the shores of Lake Ohrid. Though, for both personal pleasure and work, he has spent a significant part of his life traveling through various countries of Europe. On several occasions he resided in the Netherlands, where he became well acquaintance with the Dutch language and culture. For years he worked with Dutch and other tourists as a tour guide and tour manager, traveling throughout the Balkans. He has also worked as a travel agent, radio broadcaster, editor, and as an interpreter. He can communicate in a number of European languages; in addition to his native Macedonian, he speaks Bulgarian, Dutch, German, English, French, Italian, Serbian, and Spanish. For many years he has been involved in creative art work, primarily in writing, photography and graphic design, and actively participates in the development of culture and cultural tourism in Macedonia. He is the organizer of many exhibitions, seminars and cultural tours.

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In June 2011 in Ohrid, Yuzmeski founded the Cultural Center “Cultura 365”. On June 19, 2011 here was opened a memorial room dedicated to A. den Doolaard with an exhibition of books and documents. Yuzmeski is the author of several books:

A Passage through the Fog (2005) – a novel that, in addition to the Macedonian original, is available in Bulgarian and English translations; Let there be Light (2005) – essays; Words of Praise (2006) – essays and criticism; Elshani – Life between Stone and Water (2009) – a monograph; Our Dutch Friend A. den Doolaard is his fifth book.

His short stories and essays have appeared in a number periodicals. Contact Misho Yuzmeski by e-mail: yuzmeski@t-home.mk