Joseph Johannes ( Joop ) Visser;

o u d e r s p a re n t s

 

And the thing we never talk about: money.
Ever since schooldays Joop has worked in 'odd jobs' to get money, he's worked summer months at the Aalsmeer flower auctions, and in Germany in several flower nurseries (was paid best at a specialist in roses who believed Joop to be a young specialist from Aalsmeer) he did Saturday-afternoon cleaning jobs at a printers firm, has been a pianist in a bar and a ladies gymnastics club, a debtcollector and a (gramophone) record library assistant. He was an exhibition asistant and exhibition builder/organizer for libraries and provinces in the Netherlands. He has done all sorts of minor graphic designer jobs and wrote articles. Apart from his job as a tutor at the Academy for fine Arts, he has been teaching at several schools and amateur art classes for many years. For one year he had a government grant.
Never the less, without his wife Ludi being a professional librarian all her life, things would have been quit different.

 

20th of December 1948 'JOEPES', enkele dagen na zijn 2de verjaardag op 26 november in 'new duffle'

Photograph on the left is the quintessential Joopy with the photographer's dog.
Real dogs would follow soon and would always be around. The first one was called 'Goody' (after the song 'Goody Goody' by Ella Fitzgerald), it died when it was seventeen and a half years old leaving a much younger companion, a blond spaniel behind. Not much later John, this spaniel, got a friend - sadly enough this 'Goody' was not a happy fellow, but they got on surprisingly well - considering that the spaniel (full name: Jonathan Mac-Misha) was not at all as easy as his dainty long hair would suggest. 'Roosje' would follow; she was a redhair, and a headstrong terrier-hunter, catching hare in full run - she loved to present them, something we never taught her, or in fact appreciated very much. (I'm not sure I have come clean with all neighbouring cat -read: 'bird-hunter' and the problem seems soo much less of a burden; ok, guilty as charged- owners)
For some time having two dogs was great fun. Later, being away to often, we (Ludi & I) had one big one -the Dutch Shepherd 'Maaike', she used to be a difficult enough (so friends keep telling me), somewhat fierce creature. 'Must work a lot' and 'simply cannot have other authority' around; clever dog! Well over 15 years old, she's found some lady-like behaviour, something that does apply to day-time only. Young children in our village call her 'Lulluf' - which is 'Wolf'. I'm not too sure about what parents told them about wolves, much of it may be true if only to keep them on a safe distance. Maaike died in the summer of 2009, aged seventeen. We really really loved her.
For some month Joop had no dog, which was not too healthy, and then Boris was taken from an animal rescue centre. He has all the difficulties a brutally treated and malnourished, but eargerly surviving huntingdog (already three years old) could possibly have. He slowly regains self-respect and is the better dog for that now (2013, six years old)

Moeder: E.J. van Zanten, Nederlandse - Vader: onbekend, Brits.
De twee ontmoetten elkaar aan het eind van de Tweede Wereld Oorlog in Indonesié en bleven (beide reeds getrouwd) enige tijd bij elkaar.
De Tjideng kamp-registratie van de moeder is terug te vinden in 'het Nationaal Archief in Den Haag; Algemene Secretarie van de Nederlands-Indische Regering (AS, toegangsnummer 2.10.14 inventarisnummer 5253: 'Visser-van Zanten, E.J. pagina 146, regel 16; Nationaliteit Ned. (het duurde even voor Nederland dat, ze was geboren in Leiden, erkende), camp-registratie nummer 19008, met 4 kinderen. Onbekend zou zijn uit welk kamp zij (wederom) was getransporteerd; zelf vertelde ze 'veel te zijn verhuisd'. Ze was actief in een groep die voedsel smokkelde en verzamelde geheime informatie;
Vader was met een dergelijke missie onderweg (reconnaissence unit Seaforth Highlanders);
beide waren actief in de medische zorg.
In 1946 kwam ze met een Rode Kruis transport in Nederland waar ze met haar vier kinderen uit haar eerdere huwelijk, en vanaf november daarbij Joop, een nieuw gezinsleven heeft geprobeerd op te bouwen.
Joop's biologische vader keerde na een debriefingsperiode in 1949 terug naar zijn gezin in de UK - hij hield zich naast zijn medisch werk bezig met literatuur, beeldende kunst en muziek; Joop heeft hem nooit ontmoet.

Tegen deze achtergrond moge het duidelijk zijn dat ieder woord in de Geneefse Conventies en de toegevoegde protocollen in het leven en werk van Joseph J. Visser doorslaggevende betekenis heeft.

E.J. van Zanten gaf op een natuurlijk wijze muzieklessen, zang en compositie. Opgeleid als concertpianiste diende zij, na een succesvol openbaar concert, bij haar huwelijk voor de 2e wereld-oorlog in 'Nederlands Indië' af te zien van een professionele carrière; ze zag lang af van iedere vorm van musiceren. Joop's eerste lessen in begrip voor muziek kwamen in twee dagelijkse sessies, in alle ernst als kleuter op de pot met moeder's toelichtingen vanuit haar bed (ze heeft, eenmaal tot rust gekomen, lange tijd moeten herstellen van de oorlogsjaren)
Ze legde de nadruk op hedendaagse muziek; toen dus o.a. William Walton, Benjamin Britten, Bela Bartok, Frank Martin en Igor Stravinski. Ze werden beide meegesleept door de componisten die deelnamen aan de 'Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik' in Darmstadt.
Joseph's persoonlijke liefdes werden (rond zijn 20ste) Beethoven, Chopin, Bela Barrtok, Bruno Maderna, John Cage en Morton Feldman; die lijst zou later vrijwel oneindig worden in alle richtingen.

Mother: E.J. van Zanten, Dutch - Father: unknown British.
Their meating was in the aftermath of the war in the Dutch East Indies; they stayed together for some time.
Mother's Tjideng camp registration is to be found in: 'The National Archives in The Hague, NL; General Secretary of the Government of the Dutch-East Indies (AS, entry number 2.10.14 inventary number 5253: 'Visser-van Zanten, E.J. page 146, line 16, Nationality Dutch, camp-registration number 19008, with 4 children.
It is officially unknown where (what other camp) she and the children were in or came from. She used to say "I moved a lot". She is known to have been in Ambarawa, Tjihapit, Tjilatjap and Tjimahi.
She was active in food-smuggling and the gathering of secret information.
Odly enough it has taken a while for the Dutch Government to 'find and accept' her Dutch nationality when she returned, born at Leiden, to the Netherlands in order to built a new life for the four children she safely managed through war and the aftermath, and the newly born: Joop who would be the only one to be born in The Netherlands.

Gathering information was the mission the father was on (reconnaissence unit Seaforth Highlanders; his debriefing was in 1949)
Both mother and father were medical practitioners during and shortly after the war.
Father had a keen interest / was involved in literature, the arts and music - Joop has never been so lucky to have met him.

Against this background it may be obvious that every syllable in the Geneva Conventions, and Additional protocols, is of great bearing in life and work of Joseph J. Visser.

E.J. van Zanten had been forced to stop a musical career after a first successful concert. Making music on a professional basis was by her family considered 'unseemly'.
She had a totally natural way of getting Joop acquianted with the essences of (most of all today's) music from the very earliest stages of his life: potty-training was with William Walton, Benjamin Britten, Frank Martin, Igor Stravinski and Bela Bartok.
Both Joseph and his mother would be deeply interested in the works of the composers attending the 'Internationale Feriencurse für Neue Musik' at Darmstadt. Personally when about 20, Joseph would love 'his' Beethoven, Chopin, Bela Bartok, Bruno Maderna, John Cage and Morton Feldman; their music would be at the centre of a for ever widening circle.