Top 10 Facts about Ischa Meijer

Ischa Meijer. Photo by Fotopersbureau De Boer. Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Facts about Ischa Meijer

Israel Chaim Meijer known simply as  Ischa Meijer was a Dutch journalist , interviewer, television presenter , writer and film actor of Jewish descent who was born on 14th February 1943.

When he was a baby, Ischa together with his  parents Hebraist Jaap Meijer and Liesbeth Voet survived the German concentration camp Bergen-Belsen as from 1943 to 1945.

The top 10 facts about Ischa Meijer include the following.

1. Ischa Survived German Concentration Camp During The Second World War

Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. Photo by Bärbel Miemietz. Wikimedia Commons

Ischa Meijer was born of the historian and Hebraist Jaap Meijer and Liesbeth Voet and he was their eldest child.

He was deported to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp together with his parents while he was still a baby.

However, the young family survived the war, including the train journey from that camp with the lost transport.

The lost transport were the last three trains used to transport prisoners from Bergen-Belsen concentration camp shorthly before the Second World War ended.

2. Ischa Settled In Amsterdam After The  Second World War Ended

Amsterdam Staatsliedenbuurt. Photo by Sjakkelien Vollebregt. Wikimedia Commons

After surviving the war, Ischa and his family settled in the Amsterdam Staatsliedenbuurt , where they were blessed with the daughter Mirjam and the son Job.

The family emigration to Paramaribo in the early 1950s , fearing an invasion and definitive victory of communism in Europe.

However after a few years, the Meijers could not settle there and returned to Amsterdam and settled in the Amsterdam Staatsliedenbuurt.

3. At Eleven Ischa Was Thrown Out Of The Home By His Parents

Ischa grew up in a family traumatized by the war experiences in which he was severely deficient emotionally. He was even physically abused in his own words.

The experiences of the Holocaust led to emotional as well as alleged physical abuse by his parents.

The events also led to emotional abuse on the children including Ischa.

At the age of eleven years Ischa  was thrown out of the house by his  parents and they also ended their contact with their  two other siblings namely the daughter Mirjam and the son Job later.

His  relationship with his parents never seem to have returned to normal as Ischa and his siblings were not allowed to see their mother when she fell seriously ill in 1993.

4. Ischa Became A Journalist After Grammar School

Ischa Meijer. Photo by VARA. Wikimedia Commons

Ischa became a journalist at De Nieuwe Linie , Het Vrije Volk and later at the Haagse Post , Nieuwe Revu and Vrij Nederland after grammar school at the Coornhert Lyceum in Haarlem.

 He mainly conducted extensive, often revealing interviews which were often more about himself than about the interviewees as he and others confirmed.

Ischa adopted an interview style from Willem Wittkampf called  the  full-quote interview style and used it during some of his interview sessions.

5. Ischa Presented Direct Radio Programs As From 1984

Ischa at Haagse Post 1973. Photo by Photographer: Punt (ANEFO). Wikimedia Commons

Ischa presented a direct radio program for the VPRO from café Eik en Linde in Amsterdam : Een Uur Ischa , which later became Een Dik Uur Ischa as from 1984.

Ischa started the program with a chanson all the time and also presented at this program VPRO voice Cor Galis.

He presented his own interview program ISCHA on the late evening of television broadcaster RTL 5 as from 1993.

6. Ischa Was Also An Author, A Playwright And An Actor

Ischa was an author and playwright, and subsequently became an actor, apart from being an interviewer.

Some of Ischa’s literally works include Letter to my mother and A rabbi in the tropics  published in 1974 and 1977 respectively.

He achieved success in Berlin with his performance Izzy M. der sympathetic Jude in 1983.

He appeared in a number of feature films in the first half of the 1980s  . One of the films include De Boezemvriend  in 1982 with André van Duin.  

He also acted in the film Bastille in 1984 by Rudolf van den Berg and  De Leeuw van Vlaanderen by Hugo Claus in 1985.

Ischa wrote a daily column in Het Parool under the title De Dikke Man from 1991 until his death

7. Ischa’s Relationships Were Marked With Cheating For Which He Wrote About

Ischa had various relationships with various partners who also cheated on him and he also visited prostitutes.

He wrote the book Hoeren in 1979 to ponder on the experienes that he went through in his relationships.

 He was married to Jenny Arean , whom he encouraged to create a solo theater program for three years as from 1980 to 1982.

He had a close relationship with Connie Palmen , who wrote the book IM in 1998 about it in the years before his death.

8. He Died in 1995 A Few Years After The Death Of His Parents

Neither Ischa nor his sister and brother were allowed to come and say goodbye to their mother when in 1993 she became seriously ill. His father died afew weeks after his mother died.

Ischa died at the beginning of February 1995on his 52nd birthday from a heart attack just a week after the inheritance following the death of his parents was divided.

 His son Jeroen born in 1963 and  his  daughter Jessica born in 1984 inherited him after his death.

9. Ischa Was Honoured Posthumously

Ischa was posthumously awarded the Zilveren Reissmicrophone which caused a furore not only in journalistic circles, but also in Jewish circles in 1995.

For many people of the Second World War generation, Ischa was an icon.

Made of first grade silver, the Zilveren Reissmicrofoon is a prestigious Dutch radio award.

10. Drama Series Were Done And Books Written About Him Posthumously

His sister Mirjam wrote and published a book about Ischa  called My brother Ischa; The Story of a Jewish Family in 1996.

The book Ischa , Stories of relatives, friends and women was published by Gijs Groenteman in 2005.

The book A tin of Jewish cakes about him was also written by his daughter Jessica Meijer in 2013.

The first part of the double biography Jaap en Ischa Meijer; A Jewish History 1912-1956 was published by historian Evelien Gans in 2008.

A drama series based on Palmen’s novel IM about the love affair between Ischa Meijer and Connie Palmen was released by AVROTROS in 2020.