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Jud ith Zukerman Amsterdam Days |
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Review
- Kitty Nooy, Amsterdam It is always special to see your own city through the eyes of another. That is exactly what happens in the collection of poems Amsterdam Days by Jewish-American poet Judith Zukerman. She stayed in the Netherlands in 1994-95, in 1999-2000, and for several short visits during the sixties. Two dozen engaging poems capture her experiences and impressions. The author, born in Chicago and now living in Wisconsin, has a special connection with Amsterdam. In her introduction, the metaphor of two lovers who become closer through time explains how the city reveals ever more layers of its inner beauty. Gradually, she acquaints herself with the history 'and some of the people who call her home.' In vigorous, colorful, and detailed poems, perceived with wise eyes and recorded with a passionate pen, Amsterdam truly comes to life. Leidseplein, Concertgebouw, Stopera, Hortus Botanicus, Zeedijk shopping - everything there is to do in the pounding heart of the city. Yet special attention is paid to the Dappermarkt and the Tropenmuseum; the melting pot of the multicultural Netherlands. The Dappermarkt is the stage for both falafel and herring, Turkish sounds next to Caribbean drums, African clothes, saris, and the turbans of the Sikhs. In the Tropenmuseum, Third World culture comes to life through exhibitions, musical performances, and the menus of the restaurant. Nevertheless, integration is not always easy. The same Dappermarkt returns in the next poem where a honey colored father, his daughter on his arm, accidentally hits a white woman with his empty buggy. She answers his apologetic smile with an empty stare. A small, but meaningful event. Integration is an important theme in the collection. This Jewish woman describes with affection the loneliness of a Muslim girl: how her Dutch neighbors do not see the child and her dreams, how she cannot escape the labels 'black' and 'immigrant' given to her by society. Another poem about a marriage between a Muslim and a Christian, thus bridging the gap between East and West. An excellent example is the poem Artis: Artis Two toddlers
waddle, Sprawled on
the lawn They babble
to each other they can't be friends Why this emphasis on integration? It leads to another important theme in the collection: the history of Amsterdam, especially the horrors of the Second World War, during which eighty per cent of the Jews were transported. Westerbork, Auschwitz, Sobibor, eighty per cent of Dutch Jews no more. Therefore, the area surrounding the Hollandsche Schouwburg is another heart of the book: many Amsterdam Jews were deported from there. An attentive reader could have seen this bleak side coming, because the typical Dutch tulips on the cover of the book are in this case the wooden tulips of the Hollandsche Schouwburg with children's notes hanging from them: 'Never again racism,' 'Never again Auschwitz.' When the author sees children playing in the woods at the Kroller-Muller Museum, she thinks about the Jewish children who were hiding during the war without room to play. When she goes shopping on the Nieuwmarkt, she hears the voices of the Jewish merchants who once populated the square. Yet there is also the other side: the resistance, the February strike, the places for people to hide, for example in the house of Corrie ten Boom. In her bedroom on the second floor above her father's clock store in Haarlem, there was an extra wall. It provided such a good hiding place for six people that the Gestapo did not find them even after keeping watch for three days. Corrie heard in prison that all her birds had safely flown away. And the tree in the garden of the hotel where Judith Zukerman stayed witnessed the escape of some Jewish children who were smuggled out of the Hollandsche Schouwburg. There is a reason for the numerous appearances of the De Pinto Huis in the poems. Isaac de Pinto was a Portuguese Jew who managed to escape the inquisition in the seventeenth century. After temporary stays in Antwerp and Rotterdam, he finally moved to Amsterdam. The De Pinto Huis represents the vibrant prewar Jewish community that flourished because of the freedom of religion, the mercantile spirit, and the age-old Dutch notion of tolerance. De Pinto was a banker and bought a house in the Sint Anthoniebreestraat in the middle of a poor Jewish district, which resulted in the phrase 'as rich as De Pinto.' Today, the De Pinto Huis is a public library and as such serves as a meeting place for all the people in the neighborhood. Other meeting places, such as community centers and various cafes, also receive much attention in the collection and are mentioned by name, for example Pelikaan Broodjes Cafe. There is a poem in praise of the bar East of Eden where Dutch and immigrants meet and connect. In a community center such as De Witte Boei, people help each other with the Dutch language and culture. Judith Zukerman really knows how to express this solidarity. In De Witte Boei, she sings in the Jewish choir Mokum Alef. In addition, she attends meetings of the women's group Rosh Hodesh. Their goal is to pass on the Jewish tradition. These are all flickers of new Jewish life that light up the collection and shed hope for the future, especially through the warm descriptions of objects and events. The style is one of affectionate humanity. The poems have a soul, or nesjomme in Yiddish, for example in the sentence characterizing a friend of the author who has difficulties walking: 'she carries her pride like the stick that supports her weight.' Another good example is how the people of Amsterdam enjoy the summer sun in sidewalk cafes or on their windowsills while tourists are still hiding under their hats. The notes to the various poems are interesting. They read that our small country spreads the start of the summer vacation to avoid traffic jams. I will definitely visit Zuid Beverland where some of the old dikes from before the flood of 1953 apparently still exist as well as lush meadows with grazing sheep. That would make me a tourist in my own country. There is much to learn when seeing the Netherlands through the eyes of an outsider, in this case Judith Zukerman. A quotation on the back cover suggests that this is a privilege, which is absolutely true. I believe that the collection Amsterdam Days deserves a Dutch translation. In addition to the collection of poems, a CD is available with recordings of the author reading all the poems clearly and beautifully, alternated with short musical intermezzos.
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