Cissy van Marxveldt
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Cissy van Marxveldt (1889 - 1948), Dutch writer of children's books, whose Joop ter Heul novels for teenage girls had a notable influence on the writings of Anne Frank, who addressed her diary letters to an imaginary friend, based on one of Marxveldt's characters, Kitty Francken.
Born Setske de Haan on November 24, 1889 in Oranjewoud, Friesland, she began her literary career by writing articles and stories for Dutch magazines. She married Leo Beek (1893 - 1944), a reserve infantry officer in 1919 the year she published the first in her sequence of novels about the headstrong Joop ter Heul. The books, similar in theme to Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, take the form of diary notes and letters, following the fortunes of Joop and her friends from girlhood to marriage in five volumes:
- The High School Years of Joop ter Heul (1919)
- Joop ter Heul's Problems (1921)
- Joop ter Heul gets Married (1923)
- Joop and her Boys (1925)
- Joop ter Heul's Daughter (1946)
Marxveldt also wrote many other books for young people, "Een Zomerzotheid" ("A Crazy Summer") being particularly popular.
Her husband was arrested in 1943 for his work in the Dutch resistance and sent to camp Westerbork where he was killed by firing squad in August 1944. Van Marxveldt did not learn his fate until 1947 and dedicated her last book, 'She Suffered Too' to him. She died the following year on October 31, 1948 in Bussum.
