Heinz Hermann Polzer (; 24 August 1919 – 13 June 2015), better known under his pseudonym Drs. P (), was a Swiss singer-songwriter, poet, and prose writer in the

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the List of languages by total number of speak ...

.
Zanger en plezierdichter Drs. P op 95-jarige leeftijd overleden
, ''

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by Mediahuis NRC. It is widely regarded as a newspaper of record in the country. History was first published on 1 October 1970 after a merger of the Amst ...

''; retrieved 14 June 2015. His lyrics and poems used dry humour and surprising twists, enabled by his vast vocabulary. He sang his lyrics with a distinctive shaky voice, while accompanying himself on the piano.

Life and career

Heinz Hermann Polzer was born on 24 August 1919 in

Thun Thun () is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Thun (administrative district), Thun in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Switzerland. ...

in Switzerland. He had a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

mother and an Austrian father who had been naturalized into a Dutchman. However, being born in Switzerland, Polzer was of Swiss nationality, which he never changed. After his parents divorced, when he was 3 years old, he and his mother moved to the Netherlands, where he grew up. His mother tongue was

. He obtained a master's degree in economics at the ''Economische Hogeschool Rotterdam'' (currently

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam ( ; abbreviated as EUR) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century Christian humanist and theologian. Erasmus M ...

). Thus, he was entitled to use the academic title of

doctorandus Doctorandus (; ; drs.) is a Dutch academic title according to the pre- Bachelor– Master system. The female form is doctoranda (dra.; this form is not commonly used). The title is acquired by passing the ''doctoraalexamen'', the exam which usua ...

(''drs.''). In 1942, during the German occupation of the Netherlands, he wrote a children's story in a student magazine, about Dolf & Ben (Hitler & Mussolini) who were punished by

Uncle Sam Uncle Sam (with the same initials as ''United States'') is a common national personification of the United States, depicting the federal government of the United States, federal government or the country as a whole. Since the early 19th centu ...

(the USA). He was imprisoned in the

Oranjehotel The Hague Penitentiary Institution ( Dutch: ''Penitentiaire Inrichting Haaglanden'') is a Dutch prison that is part of the Judicial Institutions Department (''Dienst Justitiële Inrichtingen'', DJI) of the Ministry of Justice. It can accommoda ...

for four months, which were extended by two months after he had drawn a card game featuring Hitler and Mussolini as jokers. Upon his release from prison, he fled to Switzerland, where he served in the military from 1942 to 1944. In 1945, he went to Paris to serve the Red Cross. After the German capitulation, he returned to the Netherlands. In 1954, Polzer went to Indonesia, where he worked for an advertising company. He started to write songs. From 1965, he became known to a wide audience after a TV appearance in

Willem Duys Willem Duys (17 August 1928 – 2 June 2011) was a Dutch people, Dutch radio personality, radio and television presenter, commentator, tennis player and music producer. Duys was born in Bussum. He first started a career as a tennis player. Havi ...

' programme. Duys styled him ''Drs. P'', which he continued to use as his pseudonym. He wrote texts for cabarets by Hetty Blok,

Gerard Cox Gerardus Antonius "Gerard" Cox (born 6 March 1940, Rotterdam) is a Dutch singer, cabaret artist, actor, and director. For fifteen years, he played the lead character of the Dutch sitcom '' Toen Was Geluk Heel Gewoon''. Life In 2018, Cox had a l ...

, and

Albert Mol Albert Mol (3 January 1917 – 9 March 2004) was a Dutch author, actor and television personality. Life and career Mol was born in Amsterdam, and was one of the first openly gay actors in the Netherlands. He married Lucy Bor in 1948. The c ...

. He also wrote the scripts for the comic strip ''Dan Teal'' by Johnn Bakker under the pseudonym "Geo Staad". In 1998, he gave his last concert. A book with the texts of all his songs appeared on that day. During his lifetime he wrote hundreds of songs, thousands of poems, and a lot of prose under the pseudonym ''Drs. P''. "Veerpont", "Dodenrit", and " De Zusters Karamazov" rank among his better-known humorous songs. He wrote a collection of poems in

double dactyl The double dactyl is a verse form invented by Anthony Hecht and Paul Pascal in 1951.Anthony Hecht and John Hollander, eds. ''Jiggery-Pokery, A Compendium of Double Dactyls'' (New York: Atheneum, 1967) Form Like the limerick, the double dactyl ...

s (' in Dutch). Other poetry forms he invented were the balladet and the

triolet A triolet (, ) is almost always a stanza poem of eight lines, though stanzas with as few as seven lines and as many as nine or more have appeared in its history. Its rhyme scheme is ABaAabAB (capital letters represent lines repeated verbatim) and ...

. Drs. P wrote and sang a series of songs about vegetables, such as broccoli, and about typical Dutch vegetables, called " Knolraap en lof, schorseneren en prei", which were collected in a songbook for gardeners (''Tuindersliedboek'', in Dutch).

Discography

His discography consist of (at least) 40 titles of LP's, EP's and singles.

Death

Drs. P. smoked

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and Fermentation, fermented tobacco leaves made to be Tobacco smoking, smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct comp ...

s throughout his life, but as an old man wrote a poem that he regretted that he never dared to smoke a cigarette or

marihuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has been used as a drug for both recr ...

. Drs. P. died of old age on 13 June 2015, aged 95, in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. He wrote his own obituary, in the form of a double dactyl poem. A new double CD, Drs. P Retrouvé, was released in November 2016, featuring 31 songs recorded in 1972 and 1973 for the weekly radio show Poptater. Of the 31 songs, 12 had never been released before.

Prizes

* De Nieuwe Clercke-Pico Bello-prijs (1979) * Cestoda-prijs (1986) * Kees Stip-prijs (1986) *

Golden Harp The Golden Harp ''(Dutch (language), Dutch: Gouden Harp)'' is awarded annually to Dutch people, Dutch musicians for their entire oeuvre. Golden Harps have been awarded 42 times. 149 different persons or (musical) groups have had the honour of rece ...

(1991) *

Edison Award The Edison Award is an annual Dutch music prize awarded for outstanding achievements in the music industry. It is comparable to the American Grammy Award. The Edison award itself is a bronze replica of a statuette of Thomas Edison, designed by ...

(1992) *

Tollens Prize The Tollens-Fonds ("Tollens foundation)" is a Dutch organization named for poet Hendrik Tollens (1780–1856). The organization awards a notable literary prize, the Tollens Prize and till 2008 also the Jacobson Prize. Tollens Prize The Tollens Pri ...

(2000) * Special charter of the

Dutch Language Union The Dutch Language Union ( , NTU) is an international regulatory institution that governs issues regarding the Dutch language. It is best known for its spelling reforms which are promulgated by member states, grammar books, the Word list of th ...

(2009)Drs. P gehuldigd door Nederlandse Taalunie en VRT

, 2009; retrieved 14 June 2015.

Notes

References

External links

*
Official site
(in Dutch - with free downloads)
Drs. P. at Digital Library for Dutch Literature
(in Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:P, Drs 20th-century Dutch poets 20th-century Dutch pianists Dutch comedy musicians Dutch comics writers Dutch humorists 1919 births 2015 deaths 20th-century Swiss poets 21st-century Swiss poets Dutch-language poets Dutch-language singers Dutch male singer-songwriters Erasmus University Rotterdam alumni People from Thun Swiss emigrants to the Netherlands Swiss male poets 20th-century Swiss military personnel Swiss people of Austrian descent Swiss people of Dutch descent Swiss people of World War II Swiss singer-songwriters Swiss male singer-songwriters Swiss comics writers 20th-century Swiss pianists 20th-century Swiss male singers Swiss comedy musicians Dutch male poets Dutch humorous poets 20th-century Dutch male singers 20th-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers