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Donation by Willem Oltmans
Acquisition 1992
Date 1934-2004
Signature DWO
On 23 April 1991 a fax machine at the Koninklijke Bibliotheek churned out a letter addressed to one 'Mr. W. van Driemelen' signed by 'Willem O.' Another fax arrived the next day, indicating that 'Willem O.' should be read as 'Willem Oltmans'. Polite, surely, but unnecessary. The subject of the correspondence was the transfer of the already famous diary of Willem Oltmans to the Koninklijke Bibliotheek. The transfer was completed to mutual satisfaction at the end of 1992. It was a rather unusual acquisition as the ultimate size could not yet be ascertained, considering the fact that Oltmans continued to feverishly record the details of his daily life all the way up until his passing on 30 September 2004.
The warehouse now contains almost fifteenhundred quarto ring binders, seventy folios with clippings, twenty photo albums and several additional metres of various materials, including a tin box containing three ostrich eggs. Consequently, the question arises as to whether Oltmans had the time to do anything else. However, anyone who is even remotely familiar with his journalism output and his lengthy legal battle with the Dutch government knows the answer.
For Oltmans, the considerable financial settlement which ultimately ended the battle was a blessing. After years spent scraping by on social security he was able to live out his final years comfortably. Of course, far more important to him was the fact that it enabled him to secure the publication of excerpts from his diary. So far, the period 1925-1977 has been published in 22 volumes. According to the schedule at publisher Papieren Tijger there are no less than 75 volumes planned for publication until 2017.
Willem Oltmans was an intractable but warm-hearted man with a propensity to pinch his (male) conversation partners on the arm or leg. When asked whether the job included a bonus for hazardous work, Wim van Drimmelen responded dryly: 'Oh, what you people view as dangerous, others consider a welcome fringe benefit...'
(KT)
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