Ode to Wil Erents-de Brave | A human being is a human being

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Dear Wil,

I remember our first meeting well; June 1987, my motion to change the name of Louis Bothastraat to Albert Luthulistraat had passed in the city council. You were furious and you didn't hide it. Where did I get the nerve to do that? People were deported there during the war and never returned, falsification of history. But apartheid was under attack and the name Botha, a hero of the Boer War, hurt. I understood you well, and so the idea was born to hang a sign under the Albert Luthulistraat sign saying formerly Louis Bothastraat. But then I want the sign to be bigger, you said very alertly, and that happened. Still the street has two nameplates and every time I walk by it I think of that phone call. Not only me, many others you have saved from error in this way. 

Je woont al heel lang in de Transvaalbuurt, sinds 1945. In 1976 werd je actief en nog steeds zet je je in voor de buurt. Je inmiddels overleden man Henk stimuleerde je enorm, hij was je steun en toeverlaat, een geëmancipeerde man en je mist hem nog steeds. Je bent nu 80 maar de buurt loslaten, ho maar en gelukkig heb je er veel plezier in. 

Terwijl je vertelt over je werk beginnen je ogen te glimmen van trots: de speeltuin in de Joubertstraat met de korfbalvereniging BIG, 2 wandelclubs, de drumband, toneel, de bootjesclub, wat hebben we een plezier gehad. Ook je inzet voor de verbetering van de woningen, lage woonlasten en acties tegen de huisjesmelkers heeft veel opgeleverd. Vanuit OBASA/ASW had je maandelijks overleg met de ambtelijke werkgroep die hierover ging. je voelde je volledig geaccepteerd en iedereen had veel respect voor elkaar. Het was een geweldige tijd en om meer aandacht te vragen voor de eisen van de buurt “kraakten” jullie een lunch van de bobo’s op werkbezoek in Betondorp waaronder Jan Schaeffer. De chique broodjes werden weggehaald en daarvoor in de plaats werd soep van viskoppen geserveerd. Wat zullen die heren op hun neus gekeken hebben! Je deskundigheid zette je in bij de Vrouwen Advies Commissie om zo nieuwe woningbouw beter toe te spitsen op de eisen van vrouwen. De saamhorigheid in de buurt was groot en men had echt tijd voor elkaar. Dat mis je nu; het karakter van de buurt is sterk veranderd, de onderlinge contacten zijn veel minder. 

Like a thread running through your life is the war, a Jewish family, your mother was a "nasty person", as a child you were not seen and that will have shaped you. She paid mainly attention to others and not to you. Difficult but also honest and painful to see that.

The Transvaal neighbourhood has a dark past, 80% of the Jews who lived here were deported and murdered during the war. When remembering this, our paths crossed again, you as chairman of the 4/5 May committee Transvaal and I as portfolio holder of Stadsdeel Oost. In 2002, I attended a children's commemoration at the Joubertstraat playground for the first time. School classes gathered on the square and you told what had happened, children read poems and there was a guest speaker. It was impressive and the children became silent.                                            

On 4 May, there is the annual silent march past a number of places in the neighbourhood. We lay flowers at the war memorials. In the beginning, we walked with a small group of people but now it has become a long procession that ends at "The belly shot" on Tugelaweg. Last time (2024), there were about 200 of us and it's great to be able to stand together as a neighbourhood and remember all those Jews and the no less than 5,000 who were removed from the Transvaal neighbourhood. You are the driving force behind this and we can be grateful for that.

In preparation for this ode, I spoke to you and it was very inspiring. To hear what you have been doing and with a lot of love, how much fun you have and had in doing it. Your tolerance expressed so beautifully: "a human being is a human being". Everyone needs each other and you contribute to that. Your big heart takes you far. Thank you for everything,

Antoinette Tanja