VIP Lounge was a series of portraits produced in the late 1980’s of well-known Dutch people who gained international fame for their professional achievements. In this programme our guest was Harry Mulisch (1927-2010), one of the leading postwar intellectuals and novelists of the Netherlands. He was counted along with Gerard Reve and Willem Frederik Hermans among Holland’s “Big Three”, a triumverate of Dutch literary giants. His best-known work at the time of this interview was “The Assault” (1982), which inspired the Academy Award-winning film by director Fons Rademakers. As the child of a Jewish mother and a father who collaborated with the Nazis, Mulisch saw himself as the embodiment of World War II. His 1963 study of the Eichmann trial, “Case 40/61”, influenced Hannah Arendt’s classic book “Eichmann in Jerusalem”.
Producer: Marijke van der Meer
Broadcast: 26 October, 1987