The Hoogeveen poet, writer and historical researcher Marga Zwiggelaar has passed away. She advocated the visibility of local history and the use of Drenthe. Zwiggelaar turned 62 years old.
Zwiggelaar’s life is intertwined with Hoogeveen and Drenthe. She was born in Hoogeveen on July 21, 1963, where she grew up in a Reformed family. After studying Cultural Work in Kampen, she returned and started working as a community and youth worker. In the meantime, she studied cultural studies. After completing her studies, she entered the museum world.
From 2001 to 2012 she was director-curator of the Hoogeveen cultural history Museum de 5000 Morgen. In addition to her job at Museum de 5000 Morgen, she was active as a coordinator at the Hunebed Center in Borger.
From 2004, she has advised governments and organizations in the field of art, culture and history with her own agency. And anyone who entered the municipal archives could find her there, busy with research for the next book or new publication.
She regularly collaborated with other local historians such as Albert Metselaar. With him she also gave tours of special graves in the municipality.
For Marga Zwiggelaar, Drenthe was the language in which she felt comfortable, both in speech and in writing. Under the pseudonym Annije Maria Brans, she wrote books, poems and articles for historical magazines.
But also books published under her own name. Zwiggelaar received the Regional Language Prize in 2019 for the historical crime novel Maagie in het Ies. The book Cemeteries in Hoogeveen, which she compiled with Albert Metselaar, won the annual prize of the Drenthe Historical Society in 2008. To the disappointment of the compilers, the prize went to the publishers of the book.
In 2010 she received a royal distinction for her efforts and Marga Zwiggelaar became a Member of the Order of Orange-Nassau.
Zwiggelaar was fascinated by monasteries from an early age. Despite her Protestant upbringing, her dream was to become a nun. At the age of 56, the Hoogeveen resident made her dream come true. She became a sister at the Congregation of Dominican Sisters of Neerbosch in Nijmegen.
In the monastery she missed her Hoogeveen and Drenthe. Not that she spent full days in the monastery or visibly practiced her faith all day long. “I only wear the habit for special things, such as the celebration on Sunday. For the rest I just wear my jeans,” she said shortly after joining.
In the Margriet she said in 2024 that she led a mixed life: partly a quiet monastic life, partly a life with outings, holidays and Netflix. “Stranger Things is my favorite series.” She also talked about her personal life: “I am a lesbian and I have never started a family.”
