I ran into several references to a “Mevr. Farwerck”. Also I ran into references using the feminine version of the Dutch word for “publisher” to obtain Farwerck’s books. Plus, Farwerck’s own publishing house “Thule” sometimes used another address, an address of a “Mrs. Farwerck”. Five years after I wrote the first version of this little text, I had to revise my conclusions a little.
Sometimes it is mentioned that works of Farwerck can be obtained from the publisher, using the word “Uitgeefster”, a feminine version of the Dutch word “uitgever”, ‘publisher’. I thought I knew such a reference to “uitgeefster” Thule, but I can’t find that one anymore. I did find a few things that now makes me conclude that Farwerck may not have meant to say that his publisher was a woman.
“Der Vaderen Erfdeel” was not Farwerck’s own effort, but here we see the word “uitgeefster”, a feminine publisher. This is an ad from 1939 (De Waag 16/2/1939). Five years earlier (Volk en Vaderland 24/3/1934) Farwerck announced National Socialistic periodicals which will be made available by “uitgeefsters” Nenasu.
The word “uitgeverij”, ‘publishing house’ is feminine in Dutch, so -contrary to before- my guess is that this is the reason that Farwerck writes “uitgeefster” and does not mean that every publishing house he used was helmed by women. But it could be that he meant that.
A more important reason to try to found out who this “Mrs. Farwerck” is that the book Het Teken van Dood en Herleving (‘The Symbol of Death and Reliving’) was published in 1953 on Farwerck’s own publishing house Thule. Other Thule publications have Farwerck’s address, this one has another:
“Uitgeverij Thule – Beethovenlaan 11 – Hilversum”
There is another instance when Thule used Beethovenlaan 11 as address.
This is a scan from a letter that is in one of my copies of the Nehalennia periodical which was published by Thule, an issue from 1959. In the letter Farwerck thanks a reader. It may not be too clear in the scan, but I can assure you that the address that has been removed and replaced reads Beethovenlaan 11. So in 1953 and 1959, Thule used Beethovenlaan 11 as address. The letter may indicate that Farwerck decided to use his own address again from 1959.
Beethovenlaan 11 probably wasn’t a (temporary) address of Farwerck, at least not at the time. So who did live there?
Old phone books can be found online. I have found a few names. At least between 1927 and 1949 a Dierkens lived at Beethovenlaan 11. Could that be the female publisher that Een der Bronnen refers to in the advertorial at the end?
Newspapers can give information too. There are advertorials of people looking for maids for example. In 1960 one from a mrs. Heineke at this address. In 1952 one from “Mevr. Farwerck”.
So who was this mrs. Farwerck? Johanna Borrius, Franz’ brother‘s wife? Willy and Johanna lived with Franz during the war. (Some of) their children in the garden home. Before that Willy and Johanna lived in Amsterdam. It is sometimes mentioned that Franz spent winters with Willy and Johanna in Amsterdam and them summers with Franz in Hilversum. The war may have forced them to move to Hilversum for a longer period. So much longer that they bought their own house? Beethovenlaan 11 is quite a house, so it doesn’t really look like a temporary home, but who knows.
In 1958 we have a similar address of a “Mevr. Farwerck” living at Emmastraat 58!
Look at the odd sentence “Goed kunn. koken” which is in both ads. This “Mevr. Farwerck” obviously used different addresses. Did she move between two addresses? 1953 Beethovenlaan, 1958 Emmastraat, 1960 Beethovenlaan. Did she -perhaps- recruit for herself and Farwerck?
Further digging in old newspapers brought up another mrs. Farwerck: “mrs. Farwerck-Hoolboom”. This is a lady whose maiden name is Hoolboom and who married Kees-Jan Farwerck on 19 december 1958 in Rotterdam. Kees-Jan was the youngest son of Willy, born in 1930. Farwerck-Hoolboom had a daughter who was born in 1959. She herself was born in 1933.
This could mean that one of his sisters in law may have worked with Farwerck at his publishing house and the Nehalennia periodical. The daughter of Farwerck-Hoolboom played hockey in Hilversum, so would Farwerck-Hoolboom indeed be the “mrs. Farwerck” living on the Beethovenlaan?
Johanna, Willy‘s wife, isn’t an unlikely candidate either, since she and her husband worked together with Farwerck on many different things, work-related and otherwise. In that case I have to prove that they have lived at that very address, if only for a while.
Farwerck’s obituary answers a few questions, but not all.
As you can see, in 1969 both Johanna and a son are mentioned as living in Hilversum (Willy has passed away in 1964, so Johanna was a widow by then), but also “K.J. Farwerck” and “Th.W.C. Farwerck-Hoolboom”.
I also have the obituary of Willy from 1964:
Note the address below: Emmastraat 58. If I had to guess, I would say that this is the address of the remaining family (Johanna and son) (it would be strange to mention somebody else’s address for visitors, etc.) and if that is true, Willy and Johanna remained in Hilversum after the war and used the same address and if that is true, Franz’ Thule collaborator could indeed have been his sister in law.
If Willy’s address was Emmastraat 58, Willy and/or Johanna could have been (officially) behind Thule and Nehalennia all along. I thought it to be more likely though that “mrs. Farwerck” is Theodora Wilhelmina Christina Hoolboom, born in 1933 and, at least at the time, living at the Beethovenlaan.
This became less likely when on 20 July 2022 I ran into another ‘version’ of the advertisement. This one was published on 1 August 1952 in the “Provinciale Drentsche en Asser Courant” (“Provincial Drenthe and Assen Gazette”). “Drenthe is a Dutch province, Assen its capital.
This version is interesting for a number of reasons. First, why would it have been published in a local newspaper in the North of the Netherlands, way more northern than were help was needed? Did they expect more respondents there or does the advertiser have roots in these parts?
Another thing that is even more interesting, is that this add speaks of a “family of four adults“. This could refer to Willy, Johanna and two sons (who were all adults in 1952), one of whom left the parental house; or to Franz, Willy, Johanna and one son, It can not have been Kees-Jan, Theodora Hoolboom and children, since Kees-Jan was born in 1930 and Theodora in 1933 and the couple got married late 1958, they can’t impossibly have had two adult children in 1952.
There is another mrs. Farwerck.
In January 1964 she had “2 small children”, so this almost has to be Farwerck-Hoolboom. The address is new: Elzenlaan 59.
So the question remains open. Both Johanna Farwerck-Borrius and Theodore Farwerck-Hoolboom appear to have used “Mrs. Farwerck” to refer to themselves, but it is more likely that it was Johanna, who cooperated with Franz’ publishing efforts than the niece. If Johanna was contact, it is not strange that her address was used. That doesn’t automatically mean that Franz lived at that address as well (but doesn’t rule it out either).