De Bezige Bij ("the busy bee") is one of the most important literary

publishing companies Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

History

The company was founded illegally in 1943, during the

German occupation of the Netherlands Despite Dutch neutrality, Nazi Germany German invasion of the Netherlands, invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of ''Fall Gelb'' (Case Yellow). On 15 May 1940, one day after the Rotterdam Blitz, bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces ...

by ; its first publication was a poem by

Jan Campert Jan Remco Theodoor Campert (Spijkenisse, 15 August 1902 – 12 January 1943) was a Dutch journalist, theater critic and writer who lived in Amsterdam. During the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II Campert was arrested for aiding ...

called ''De Achttien Dooden'' ("The eighteen dead"), which describes the execution of 15 resistance fighters and three communists. The poem was sold to raise money for Jewish children who were placed with Dutch families; when it was published, in the spring of 1943, Campert had already died in the

Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and List of subcamps of Neuengamme, more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme, Hamburg, N ...

. When the German occupier rounded up students for the

Arbeitseinsatz ''Arbeitseinsatz'' () was a Forced labor in Germany during World War II, forced labour category of internment within Nazi Germany () during World War II. When German men were conscription, called up for military service, Nazi German authorities r ...

, Lubberhuizen hid in the attic of Maarten Vink, a surgeon, and ran the press from there. The name is derived from one of Lubberhuizen's aliases, "Bas." After he had signed a note, "Bas (busy)," an English-speaking friend joked, "Bas, busy as a bee can be," which led to the current name. In 1997, De Bezige Bij became part of the Weekbladpersgroep, though it was to keep its editorial independence and its

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

structure. In 2020, all employees of the Thomas Rap publisher left De Bezige Bij for more autonomy.

Writers and poets

Writers and poets published by De Bezige Bij include: *

Remco Campert Remco Campert (28 July 1929 – 4 July 2022) was a Dutch author, poet and columnist. Early years Remco Wouter Campert was born in The Hague, son of writer and poet Jan Campert, author of the poem ''De achttien dooden'', and actress Joekie Bro ...

Hugo Claus Hugo Maurice Julien Claus (; 5 April 1929 – 19 March 2008) was a leading Belgian author who published under his own name as well as various pseudonyms. Claus' literary contributions spanned the genres of drama, novels, and poetry; he also lef ...

Jan Cremer Johan Cremer (; 20 April 1940 – 19 June 2024) was a Dutch author, photographer and painter. His best known work is the novel ' ("I, Jan Cremer"; 1964) and the sequel ''Ik, Jan Cremer, tweede boek'' ("I, Jan Cremer, second book"; 1966). The pub ...

* Louis Ferron * W.F. Hermans * Erik Menkveld *

Harry Mulisch Harry Kurt Victor Mulisch (; 29 July 192730 October 2010) was a Dutch writer. He wrote more than 80 novels, plays, essays, poems, and philosophical reflections. Mulisch's works have been translated into 38 languages so far. Along with Willem Fre ...

Gerard Reve Gerard Kornelis van het Reve (14 December 1923 – 8 April 2006) was a Dutch writer. He started writing as Simon Gerard van het Reve and adopted the shorter Gerard Reve in 1973. Together with Willem Frederik Hermans and Harry Mulisch, he i ...

Jan Siebelink Jan Geurt Siebelink (born 13 February 1938 in Velp, Gelderland) is a Dutch author. In 2005, he wrote the novel ''Knielen op een bed violen'' (literally ', translated into English as ''In my father's garden'') that sold over 700,000 copies. In 19 ...

* Ruth Thomas *

Simon Vinkenoog Simon Vinkenoog (18 July 1928 – 12 July 2009) was a Dutch poet, spoken word poet and writer. He was the editor of the anthology ''Atonaal'' (Atonal), which launched the Dutch "Fifties Movement". In 2004 he was chosen as Dichter des Vaderlands ...

Tommy Wieringa Tommy Wieringa (born 20 May 1967) is a Dutch writer.Tommy Wieringa
Leon de Winter Leon de Winter (born 26 February 1954) is a Dutch novelist and columnist. Early life Leon de Winter was born on 24 February 1954 in Den Bosch, in the southern Netherlands. He grew up in a Jewish Orthodox family and attended City Grammar Sc ...

References

Secondary literature

External links

1943 establishments in the Netherlands Book publishing companies of the Netherlands Literary publishing companies Mass media in Amsterdam {{publishing-company-stub