A hearse drives up the general cemetery in Bussum, located on the Nieuwe Hilversumseweg. It’s 11:00 in the morning. Carriers in black suits get out. The atmosphere is sober. The municipality has tried to find a brother, sister or distant cousin, but in vain. In the end it turns out to be a lonely funeral for Hans.
But he is not completely alone. No family of the deceased appears, but a friend and a former colleague do. They walk behind the coffin. At the resting place, the undertaker recites a poem about the lonely death he died. “Someone knows you, nobody knows.” A bunch of flowers from the municipality lies at the grave.
“It was sober, but neat,” says Monique Rijners afterwards. She had known Hans for twenty years and says that behind the lonely death lies a special and eccentric life story. “I can write a book about him.”
Drink
Hans was born in the fifties, worked as a mechanic at a garage in Bussum, then became incapacitated for work and lived on ‘support’. Hans’s parents passed away decades ago. He had no partner, nor children. Only two sisters with whom contact was lost years ago. “He lived the way he wanted,” says Monique.
She was the owner of café de Pollepel (closed in 2014) in Bussum on Kapelstraat, where Hans visited almost daily. On some days he came in as early as 10:00 in the morning and stayed for hours. “He became very noisy after a few beers,” says Bussum. She then called a taxi or dropped him off at home by car at the end of the afternoon. “He never paid on the day itself, but the next time.”
She adds with a laugh: “Actually, he still had to pay for the last time.”
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heater
She continues that Hans was a striking man. The house where he was found had not been maintained for years. Hans had no shower, washing machine or central heating. There was a gas heater in the living room and he had made a big hole in his ceiling so that the warm air could spread through the house. “This works fine,” he had told Monique when she asked if he should renovate his house.
She’s been in with him a few times, long ago. After that he wouldn’t allow it anymore. He had the excuse that his maid was ill. The faded curtains on the windows were closed day and night. Hans was often busy doing odd jobs on his moped, which he then put in the living room. There were black stains from the oil on the walls. “He was a very good mechanic,” says Monique.
De Bussumse has had many customers in her café, but Hans has made an indelible impression on her. Especially his special way of life will always stay with her. For example, he always left the back doors open. Monique: “The mice and spiders walked in. I said to him: ‘That is not possible’. Then he said, ‘Why not? They have to live, too.” He thought that was quite normal. Live and let live, that was his motto.”
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Beer, bread and cheese
A cloud of loneliness hung around him, but according to Monique he was not a real hermit. Hans chatted with everyone in the pub. He also came out to do his necessary shopping. “He always got beer, bread and cheese.” And he regularly went to the pet store to buy new birds. Monique: “He had converted his bedroom into an aviary with parakeets and canaries.”
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It was also the birds that stopped chirping, which eventually alarmed the neighbors. Agents found Hans next to the couch on Saturday, February 11, where he always slept. The animals were on top of the floor in the bedroom. For weeks they have been waiting on a stick for their owner, who did not come up anymore.
Annoying
“It won’t let me go,” says Monique. That a friend has died in this way touches her. She had last spoken to Hans in November. “I wish I had visited him sooner,” she says, shaking her head.
She explains that it was also difficult to maintain contact with him. He did not want a fixed telephone or a mobile phone with internet. Hans was actually a traveler in an old landscape. “I hope that one day someone like him will be born. He was very special.”, says Monique.