The Nehalennia editors

The first issue of Nehalennia (April 1956) names the following editors:

Mr. L. Boer, Dr. F.C. Bursch, Ir. F. de Fremery, Dr. F.S. Sixma Baron van Heemstra and Dr. F. Wiersma-Verschaffelt. From the second issue, another name was added: Jkvr. Henriette van Lennep.
This group remains the same for all six years of publication.

Since Farwerck was probably the main editor (his address is the initial editors address) and the publishing house used his address, let us call them ‘his team’. What can we find out about them?

Mr. L. de Boer

“Mr.” means that this person has studied law. For the rest this name is too general to lead to much information. The only possible lead is a title of a work about the Veluwe (an area in the Netherlands) by an L. de Boer. This would ‘fit the bill’ to some degree.

Dr. F.C. Bursch

Here we have an easier name to investigate. F.C. stands for Frans Christiaan. Frans was born in 1903 and passed away in 1981. The reason that quite some information about Bursch can be found, is because he was quite a name in archeology in his time. The “Dr.” in front of is name is a doctor’s title, he studied at a university.

Bursch studied under the famous Jan Holwerda (1873-1951) who was the director of the prestigious National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden from 1919 (following his father) until 1939. Holwerda imported a new archeological method from Germany, but Bursch was to develop his own ideas.

Bursch also became director of an archeological bureau in Leiden. He became famous (or notorious) because he was a convinced National-Socialist. He was sent to Ukraine for archeological investigations by the Nazis. A prestigious and expensive expedition that unforatunately “did not result in remains of Goths and Vikings, our germanic predecessors”.

Before and after the war (even though he was imprisoned for five years after the war) Bursch published books, mostly about prehistory. In these books he not only dealt with archeology, but also with spiritual development.

Ir. F. de Fremery

Another title. De Fremery has followed a technical study and thus was “engineer” (but then as a title). De Fremery is mentioned in Farwerck’s final book as maker of two photos. As I said elsewhere:

A quick search gave as likely ‘candidate’ a Frank de Fremery, who was born in Bussum in 1898 and passed away in Hilversum in 1973 (another source says that he died in 1940!). Hilversum, Farwerck’s hometown. De Fremery was a technical engineer, with some high function. A likely acquaintance for Farwerck.
The name De Fremery also appears in the membership lists of the early Le Droit Humain, but this was not Frank. I have not yet found more information about this person.

Dr. F.S. Sixma Baron van Heemstra

I already knew this name, since Farwerck (Thule) published a little book by him. This is again a person about whom more information can be found, again, mostly because he was a bit of a controversial author.

As the “baron” in his name says, Sixma came from a noble family. He lived from 1916 to 1999. He wrote about folklore, aided a museum in Hindelopen and wrote a book about the controversial Oera Linda Book in French. Another book in French is about the Cathars. He is most famous for being a Frisian nationalist. His father was from Frisia and taught his children the language and culture even though they didn’t live in Frisia in that time.

Sixma van Heemstra studied Greek and Latin, philosophy and the history of art, but Frisian history made him write two controversial books. In 1963 there was a novel published under the pseudonym Homme Eernstma and in 1998 he published Roman Hagois with a ‘secret history’ of a part of Dutch history based on notes of his mother.

Both revered and frowned upon, Sixma made the papers with interviews which can tell you more about him when you are interested.

Dr. F. Wiersma-Verschaffelt

Probably the most colourful person in the list is Françoise Wiersma-Verschaffelt (1901-1981). Françoise’s husband gained some notoriety, overshadowing his interesting wife.

Dirk Wiersma (1899-1981) studied psychology at the institute headed by his father. Moving away from his hometown Groningen, he managed to escape the extreme control of his father. He continued his carreer in psychiatry and Fraçoise Verschaffelt succeeded in defrosting the extremely shy Dirk at the age of 30 and the two get married. Dirk has himself euthanised at the age of 81 by the way.

Françoise was the daugher of a professor in physics in Gent (Belgium) and studied biology in Amsterdam. Her rapidly developing carreer was considerably slowed down after her marriage. Suddenly she became a house-wife with two daughers and had to make sacrifices on behalf of her husband’s carreer. She didn’t loose her interest in biology, philosophy and psychology and published a few books and other publications.

Françoise was much less a rationalist than her husband. Not only philosophy had her attention, but also religion, mythology and fairytales. Some of her books are about the philosopher and psychologist Ludwig Klages (1872-1956) and about Karl Lessing (1872-1933), both from Germany.

Wiersma wrote more. Like Sixsma she has a an article about the Cathars (1964 in Dutch). She also wrote in German as in the periodical Arbeitskreis für biozentrische Forschung im Reichsbund Volkstum und Heimat between 1933 and 1936. Biology and ancestry. Another German text is in a periodical about symbolism in 1967. Wiersma also shared publishers with Farwerck when she wrote for the Kluwer periodical Mensch en Kosmos, maandblad gewijd aan de vergelijkende studie van godsdienst, wijsbegeerte, wetenschap en hun grensgebiedenis (‘Man and kosmos, monthly periodical dedicated to comparitive study of religion, science and bordering areas’).

Jkvr. Henriette van Lennep

I suppose that “Jkvr.” stands for “jonkvrouw”, a noble lady. More nobility. Van Lennep has her own Wikipedia page. Het short name seems to be Jetty and Van Lennep was a famous musician. She was born in Surabaya (Dutch India) in 1894 and died in Den Haag (The Hague) in 1972.

Even though Van Lennep studied Greek, Latin and Roman languages, it was music that made her occupation. From classical music her interest did start to shift to folk-music and traditional instruments.

Van Lennep also wrote. Initially about music in a lefish periodical, but during the war she wrote for a National Socialist cultural magazine. The subjects were usually related to music.

I can find no mention of marriage or children, but Jetty supposedly lived together with the famous dancer Lili Green (1885 – 1977). Their house included a dance-hall where Green gave dancing lessons on Van Lennep’s piano-music.

Other contributors

Nehalennia was a bit of an ‘ego-trip’. Almost all texts are written by the editors. There are perhaps six other authors, but they have written only 10 out of 92 signed contributions, so just over 10%. These other authors were: W.Tj. Klumper (1 contribution), H.E. Boeke (3), J.E. Bogaers (1), M.C. van den Toorn (3), B.J. Westerbeek (1) and E. Pelinck (1). Just names to look for, but let’s see.

W.Tj. Klumper (1898-??) was a preacher who wrote about the church tower of Vries from 1946 on (first in an Anthroposophical periodical). Farwerck would take up the subject over a decade later. He was also interested in esoteric subjects (leaning to occult). He was arrested during the Second World War, but survived. That is all for a quick search.

H.E. Boeke is too general to identify the person with any certainty.

J.E. Bogaers is most likely Jules Bogaers (1926-1996) who was an archeologist who worked at the very institute that Bursch led.

M.C. van den Toorn must have been Maarten van den Toorn (1929-2017) a scholar in the Dutch language and professor in Nijmegen.

B.J. Westerbeek was most likely Bartholomeus (Bart) Westerbeek (1888-1975), a house doctor (‘general practitioner’) with an interest in folklore.

E. Pelinck was most likely Egbert Pelinck (1907-1991) who studied archeology and the art history and became director of the Municipal Museum (an art museum) in Den Haag (The Hague).

So what did everybody write about?

I will list only titles, but this may give you an idea of the subjects that each author was interested in.

Farwerck‘s texts can be found in the bibliography (search for “Nehalennia”).
In the first two years, there is a text by Farwerk in every issue. He ‘missed’ 3-1, 3-4, 4-2, 5-2 and 5-4.

Bursch then:

• Nehalennia year 1 volume 1 (1956);
• Het dier in het primitieve denken (‘The animal in primitive thinking’) 1-2 (1956);
• Het dier in het primitieve denken II (‘The animal in primitive thinking II’) 1-3 (1956);
• Labyrint geschiedenis van een symbool I (‘Labyrinth, history of a symbol’) 2-1 (1957);
• Labyrint geschiedenis van een symbool II (‘Labyrinth, history of a symbol II) 2-2 (1957);
• Ernst en spel in de primitieve cultuur (‘Seriousness and play in primitive culture’) 2-3 (1957);
• Van eigen bodem (‘From own soil’) 2-4 (1957);
• Het ontstaan der Europese beschaving (‘The dawn of European civilisation’) 3-1 (1958);
• Het ontstaan der Europese beschaving II (‘The dawn of European civilisation II’) 3-2 (1958);
• Het ontstaan der Europese beschaving III (‘The dawn of European civilisation III’) 3-3 (1958);
• Het ontstaan der Europese beschaving IV (‘The dawn of European civilisation IV’) 3-4 (1958);
• Het ontstaan der Europese beschaving V (‘The dawn of European civilisation’) V 4-1 (1959);
• Het prille begin (‘The very beginning’) 4-2 (1959);
• De betekenis van de prehistorie voor de geschiedenis der latere tijden (‘The meaning of prehistory for the history of later times’) 5-2 (1960);
• Het mysterie der megalieten (‘The mysterie of megaliths’) 6-2 (1961).

De Fremery

• Oude en nieuwe heiligdommen (‘Old and new sanctuaries’) year 1 issue 1 (1956);
• De hertencultus (‘The deer cult’) 1-4 (1956);
• De knoop, het net en de knoopzuil in de middeleeuwse christelijke ornamentiek (‘The knot, the net and the knotted pillar in Medieval ornamentics’) 2-3 (1957);
• Diersymboliek (‘Animal symbolism’) 3-1 (1958);
• Diersymboliek II (‘Animal symbolism II’) 3-2 (1958);
• De getallen van Vries met betrekking tot de middeleeuwse christelijke opvattingen (‘The numbers of Vries in relation to Medieval christian concepts’) 3-4 (1958);
• De uilentoren van de abdij van Hirsau (‘The owl tower of the abbey of Hirsau’) 3-4 (1958);
• De drakenstrijd in mythe, sage, legende en volksgebruiken (‘Dragon battle in myth, saga, legend and folklore’) 4-2 (1959);
• De zwarte madonna (‘The black madonna’) 5-2 (1960);
• De Zwanenbroederschap in Den Bosch (‘The Swan Brotherhood in Den Bosch’) 5-3 (1960);
• De “vliegende” madonna’s (‘The “flying” madonnas’) 5-4 (1960);
• Waarom het midzomerfeest een St. Jansfeest is (‘Why the midsummer celebrations are St. John’s celebrations’) 6-2 (1961);
• De cultische betekenis van het haar en van liturgische kammen (‘The cultic meaning of hair and liturgical combs’) 6-3 (1961).

Sixma van Heemstra

• De weg naar het hiernamaals (‘The road to the hereafter’) year 1 issue 1 (1956);
• Actuele prehistory (‘Actual prehistory’) 1-2 (1956);
• Abaris en Pythagoras (‘Abaris and Pythagoras’) 1-3 (1956);
• Genealogie als schakel tussen heden en verleden (‘Genealogy as link between present and past’) 2-2 (1957);
• Analyse van een sprookje (‘Analysis of a fairy tale’) 3-1 (1958);
• Interpretatie van dood en duivel (‘Interpretation of death and devil’) 4-1 (1959);
• Het sprookje (‘The fairytale’) 4-3 (1959);
• Veeverzorging uit een ver verleden (‘Livestock caretaking from a distant past’) 4-4 (1959);
• De actualiteit van Tales van Milete (‘The actuality of Tales of Milete’) 5-4 (1960);
• Volkskundige aspecten, I (‘Folk aspects I’) 6-4 (1961).

Wiersma-Verschaffelt

• De mythologische en de historische Arthur (‘The mythological and historical Arthur’) year 1 issue 1 (1956);
• Mythen, sagen, sprookjes en legenden (‘Myths, sagas, fairytales and legends’) 1-2 (1956);
• De wereldberg (‘The world mountain’) 2-1 (1957);
• Het hert in sprookjes en sagen (‘The deer in fairytales and sagas’) 2-2 (1957);
• Samhain, Halloween en de andere wereld bij de Kelten (‘Samhain, Helloween and the other world among the Celts’) 2-4 (1957);
• Het Gundestrup-bekken (‘The Gundestrup cauldron’) 3-1 (1958);
• Het offer als heiliging en als rituele geloofsbelijdenis (‘The offer as sanctification and as ritual confession’) 3-4 (1958);
• Het sprookje (‘The fairytale’) 4-1 (1959);
• Ierse natuurpoëzie (‘Irish nature poetry’) 4-2 (1959);
• Epona, Nehalennia en de moedergodinnen (‘Epona, Nehalennia and the mother goddesses’) 4-4 (1959);
• Het sprookje (‘The fairytale’) 5-2 (1960);
• Het sprookje (‘The fairytale’) 5-3 (1960);
• Het primitieve denken, I. De primitieve mentaliteit (‘Primitive thinking, I. Primitive mentality’) 6-1 (1961);
• Het primitieve denken, II. De primitieve religiositeit (‘Primitive thinking, II. Primitive religiosity’) 6-3 (1961).

Henriette van Lennep

• De Twentse midwinterhoorn en verwante instrumenten (‘The midwinterhorn from Twente and related instruments’) year 1 issue 4 (1956);
• Citervormen in Europa (‘Zither forms in Europe’) 3-2 (1958);
• Citervormen in Europa II (‘Zither forms in Europe II’) 3-3 (1958);
• Maanverering, inleiding (‘Moon worship, introduction’) 5-4 (1960);
• Maanverering I (‘Moon worship I’) 6-1 (1961);
• Maanverering II (‘Moon worship II’) 6-4 (1961).

And then we have the non-editorial authors:

• H.E. Boeke De ooievaar en de slang (‘The stork and snake’) year 2 issue 2 (1957);
• H.E. Boeke De ooievaar en de slang II (‘The stork and snake II’) 2-3 (1957);
• H.E. Boeke Goddelijke drietallen in heidendom en christendom (‘Divine triple numbers in heathenry and christianity’) 4-3 (1959);
• B.J. Westerbeek van Eerten Achterhoekse “bielemennekes” 5-1 (1960);
• E. Pelinck De blauwe, witte en rode stenen de Leiden (‘The blue, white and red stones in Leiden’) 5-4 (1960);
• J.E. Bogaers Nehalenniae 4-2 (1959);
• L. Boer De buurschap in het oudvaderlandse recht (‘The neighbourhood in old native law’) 1-3 (1956);
• L. Boer De dode als partij in het geding (‘The dead as party in disputes’) 2-4 (1957);
• L. Boer De rechtspositie van de Germaanse vrouw (‘Legal status of the Germanic woman’) 3-4 (1958);
• L. Boer De standen in de oud-Germaanse samenleving (‘Classes in old-Gemanic society’) 4-4 (1959);
• L. Boer Godsoordelen (‘Divine judgements’) 6-1 (1961);
• M.C. van den Toorn Het raadsel der runen (‘The riddle of the runes’) 4-2 (1959);
• M.C. van den Toorn Germaanse stammen en Germaanse talen (‘Germanic tribes and languages’) 4-4 (1959);
• M.C. van den Toorn Germaanse stammen en Germaanse talen II (‘Germanic tribes and languages II’) 5-1 (1960);
• W.Tj. Klumper De haam (‘The yoke’) 1-3 (1956).

Checking the titles it looks like some of the authors reacted to (or complemented?) each other .

First Farwerck (4-1) and then De Fremery (4-2) had texts with the title De drakenstrijd in mythe, sage, legende en volksgebruiken (‘Dragon battle in myth, saga, legend and folklore’). The two complement the other.

The same thing happened with the Vries church where Farwerck wrote about in issue 3-3 and De Fremery in 3-4.

Both Sixma and Wiersma had articles entitled Het Sprookje (‘The fairytale’).

Both Wiersma and Farwerck wrote about “mothers”.

Besides the signed articles, each volume had anonymous texts, reactions from readers, reactions to articles, etc.

Editorial address

One last thing. Both the editorial address and the address for the publisher were Farwerck’s address (Emmastraat 58 Hilversum) up until issue 5-1. After that the editors could be reached at Lorentzkade 31 Leiden. I don’t know who lived there. Bursch worked in Leiden, but appears to have lived in Oegstgeest.

End

Of course the above only says little about Farwerck directly, but here we have a few people he worked with after the war. Different people as we can see in the short biographies, but I do see some points of agreement. ‘Non-critical’ stands during WWII are apparent in some of the people mentioned. Then again, one who was taken into custody under the regime is also present. Besides archeologists most authors seem to expose their interest different from their occupations. All people have studied.

As the periodical dealt with financial losses and the people above didn’t want to make it smaller, so in March 1962 Nehalennia ceased to exist.