Lydia Chagoll (16 June 1931 – 23 June 2020) was a Dutch born dancer, choreographer, film director, screenwriter, writer and actress. Lydia was born in

Voorburg Voorburg is a town and former municipality in the west part of the province of South Holland, Netherlands. Together with Leidschendam and Stompwijk, it makes up the municipality Leidschendam-Voorburg. It has a population of about 39,000 peo ...

as Lydia Aldewereld from Jewish parents. When she was young she moved to Brussels, Belgium. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the family fled, and ended up in a Japanese Internment Camp in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. In 1942, she was held in Tjideng and transferred to Grogol in August 1943. She returned to Tjideng in August 1944. Her novels ''Zes jaar en zes maanden'' (1981) (Six years and six months) and ''Hirohito, keizer van Japan. Een vergeten oorlogsmisdadiger?'' (1988) (Hirohito, emperor of Japan, a forgotten war criminal?) dealt with that period. When the family returned to the Netherlands, they discovered that all their family members had been killed. In 1952, she took the stage name Lydia Chagoll, and took on Belgian nationality. Chagoll first graduated from the

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) () is a Dutch and English-speaking research university located in Brussels, Belgium.The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is one of the five universities officially recognised by the Flemish government. listof all ...

, and continued her studies at École Superieure des Études Choréographiques (Higher school for choreography) in Paris and began to teach dancing. She directed the 1977 documentary film '' In the Name of the Führer'' (''In naam van de Führer''), which received the

André Cavens Award for Best Film André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variation ...

given by the

Belgian Film Critics Association The Belgian Film Critics Association (french: Union de la critique de cinéma, UCC) is an organization of film critics from publications based in Brussels, Belgium. History The Belgian Film Critics Association was founded in the early 1950s in Br ...

(UCC). In 1982, she directed ''Voor de glimlach van een kind'' (For the smile of a child) about child abuse. She campaigned throughout Belgium and in 1983 founded SOS Enfants/SOS Kinderen. In 2014, at the age of 83, she directed ''Ma Bister'' about the persecution of the

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

. She was awarded the (Price for Democracy) for ''Ma Bister''. On 23 June 2020, Lydia died in

Overijse Overijse () is a municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders, Belgium. It is a suburb of the wider Brussels metropolitan area. The municipality comprises the town of Overijse, and the communities of Eizer, Maleizen, Jezus-Eik, T ...

, Belgium. She insisted that the death would be kept a secret until after her cremation.

References

External links

*
Suddenly we were refugees with nowhere to go
Interview with Lydia and Annie Aldewereld by Sociale Verzekeringsbank (page 4–8) {{DEFAULTSORT:Chagoll, Lydia 1931 births 2020 deaths Belgian film directors Belgian women film directors Belgian female dancers Belgian dancers Dutch film directors Dutch women film directors Dutch female dancers Dutch dancers