Duinkerken, Anton Van

(real surname, Asselbergs). Born Jan. 2, 1903, in Bergen op Zoom; died in Nijmegen in 1968. Dutch poet and critic.

Duinkerken, a professor at the universities of Leiden and Nijmegen, became an editor of the literary review De Gids in 1934. His poetry, imbued with religious themes, expresses sympathy for the oppressed (for example, The Lyrical Labyrinth, 1930). In his collection of expressionist verse, The Heart of Brabant (1937), Duinkerken combines a religious atmosphere with a social theme. During the fascist German occupation of the Netherlands, Duinkerken’s anti-fascist activities resulted in his imprisonment in a concentration camp. Using the pseudonym Pieter Bacx, he circulated underground the collection of verse The Arbor in Troy (1944), which was later incorporated into his postwar collections From St. Michael’s Prison (1946) and Tobias and the Angel (1946).