Schlemiel, little schlemiel. Willem Wilmink characterized Ben-Ali-Libi in his well-known poem as a man in the margins. But the Groningen-born magician, pseudonym of Michel Velleman, gassed in Sobibor on July 2, 1943, was famous and loved. His book of tricks went through six printings.
Professor Ben-Ali-Libi called himself “court magician” and reported in advertisements, such as in the Rotterdam newspaper of November 27, 1928, to have performed for the royal family. For Princess Juliana, Prince Hendrik and even for the German Emperor Wilhelm II, who lived in exile in the Netherlands.
Whether Ben-Ali-Libi indeed had royal audiences is difficult to verify. The Government Information Service (RVD) cannot confirm this. Ben Hummel cites the evidence in the biography Ben Ali Libi – Trader in illusions ‘rather thin’.
Princess Beatrix
According to magician George Tokaya (71) from Usquert who still performs Velleman tricks, as in the performance In the Illusion , Princess Beatrix is probably one of the few members of the royal family who has seen Ben-Ali-Libi perform, although she must have been very young. However, the RVD reports that our former queen does not respond to questions about this.
Which doesn’t mean it isn’t right. Ben-Ali-Libi was, according to Tokaya: ,,A man of distinction. The term ‘little schlemiel’ refers more to his misfortune, his fate. The core of the poem are the lines ‘In your paradise/how much room is there/for Ben-Ali-Libi/magician’. Velleman had the misfortune to live in a time when Jews were not allowed to be part of society and were systematically murdered.”
Laretta
In the early part of his career he did scrape his living at markets and Jewish parties, but Velleman made a name for himself as a magician and took lessons. He bought his tricks from Larette’s institute, described by his biographer Michel van Zeist as ‘possibly the greatest pre-war magician in Europe’.
,, He performed for the AVRO, in the V&D, was in major performances.”
On a list of artists
Despite this, the magician would have been forgotten if not writer Willem Wilmink saw his name on a list of artists killed in the war in the book Through the night a song sounds – Entertainment in the Netherlands 1940-1945 by Henk van Gelder and Jacques Klöters from 1985.
Theater maker Joost Prinsen encourages him to write a poem about it. The verse, about the madness of war, appears for the first time in the collection They say the earth rotates (Amsterdam, 1988). When Wilmink dies and Dirk Jan Roeleven makes a documentary about Wilmink in 2004, Prinsen Ben-Ali-Libi before and gets emotional at the end.
Little schmuck
And whenever I see a screamer
with an alternative to democracy,
I think: your paradise, how much space is there
for Ben-Ali-Libi, the magician?
For Ben-Ali-Libi, the little schlemiel,
Rest in peace, God rest his soul
He breaks at the ‘little schlemiel’ and that reinforces the image that Ben-Ali-Libi was a scribbler.
Merwede Square
Tokaya: ,,The Velleman family lived on the Merwedeplein, had a telephone, which was not cheap at the time. He performed in a dress suit, in a tuxedo, bought tricks from Larette’s catalog. All cost money. His mentally handicapped daughter Aaltje was cared for in an expensive home. He could afford it.”
He calls him a “smart man”, good at marketing and publicity. Ben-Ali-Libi reached the national top in his 20-year magic career, although he did not have the stature of international greats such as Theo Bamberg, alias Okito and Larette. However, the booklet containing 27 of his tricks went through 6 editions. That shows its popularity.
Playing with chicks
Born in Surabaya, George Tokaya was first introduced to magic by his Uncle Do, who took a coin from the boy’s ear and passed it straight through one hand.
“On board the ship we came to the Netherlands in 1958, someone did the well-known trick with cups. However, not with balls, with chicks. It wouldn’t be possible now, but it was magical.”
In the Netherlands, ‘Oma Langedijk’ gave him the tickets that came with rusk van Hus. A magic trick was explained on each card. He learned them, showed them to grandma and thus rolled into the world of ‘classical magic’.
More than arts
A craft according to Tokaya, which means more than showing tricks: “You have to talk about it, invent stories and anecdotes around it.”
It is what typifies the style of Ben-Ali-Libi and that of his colleague and friend Professor Philippini, another Jewish magician from the province of Groningen, less well known, but also killed in the war.
“Nowadays, for example on YouTube, it has to be fast and flashy, but the art is to create a magical world. People want to be enchanted.”
Hans Klok avant la lettre
Ben-Ali-Libi was also an illusionist, who ventured into floating tricks. A ‘Hans Klok avant la lettre’. “What he also did was participatory magic. Have kids do tricks on stage. Like, you can do that too. Flour, egg and oil in a pan and conjure up real sweets. The amazement of a child, that makes you loved.”
Or, as biographer Ben Hummel writes: ‘Anyone who went to see a performance by the professor in the television and internetless days before the war had something to talk about.’
Ben-Ali-Libi, the magician
On a list of artists, killed in the war,
there’s a name I’ve never heard of,
so I looked at it with wonder:
Ben-Ali-Libi. Magician.
With a smile and an excuse and a magic box
and an alibi he chose carefully,
he scrambled for a living:
Ben-Ali-Libi, the magician.
Then the Widow’s friends found Rost
that the Netherlands needed to be redeemed
of the global Jewish-Bolshevik danger.
They meant that magician, of course.
Who so often hid a dove or a flower,
could not hide himself, when there was a loud knock.
A van was already waiting
for Ben-Ali-Libi, the magician.
In the concentration camp he might have
show off his best tricks
with a smile and an excuse, a misleading gesture,
Ben-Ali-Libi, the magician.
And whenever I see a screamer
with an alternative to democracy,
I think: your paradise, how much space is there
for Ben-Ali-Libi, the magician?
For Ben-Ali-Libi, the little schlemiel
Rest in peace, God rest his soul.
Professor Ben-Ali-Libi
Professor Ben-Ali-Libi was born on 5 January 1895 in Groningen as Michel Velleman, the second son of Jesajas Ruben (Jacques) Velleman and Aaltje Noort. The family lived in great poverty, moved away from Groningen soon after Michel was born and ended up in Amsterdam after a ramble in 1901.
After his military service, Michel builds up a career as humorous magician Professor Ben-Ali-Libi, including at Rottumeroog. He called himself a court magician, taught and published a booklet with magic tricks. Velleman had his own organization agency and performed throughout the country, with or without artists such as John de Leeuw, the duo Johnny and Jones, Fientje de la Mar and Louis Noiret.
Michel Velleman married Anna Speijer in 1916 and they had two children: Aaltje (1919-1943) and Jacques (1921-1979). Aaltje is mentally disabled and moves to the Jewish home Beth Azarja of the SA Rudelsheim Foundation in Hilversum.
He starts earning more and more, they move to increasingly better homes and on April 1, 1940, the family moves into Merwedeplein 59, a new neighborhood, where the houses have central heating and hot water.
Daughter Aaltje was the first victim of the Nazis. All residents of the home moved to another accommodation in Hilversum on 16 April 1942 and were deported via Westerbork to Sobibór extermination camp a little less than a year later.
Professor BenAli-Libi performs for the last time on May 24, 1942 in the Jewish labor camp Molengoot near Hardenberg. At that time he already worked, in order to earn some money, at the Cultural Department of the Jewish Council.
Velleman and Speijer are arrested during one of the last major raids on Sunday 20 June 1943 and taken to Westerbork. They are transported to Sobibór on June 29 and are believed to be gassed there on July 2, 1943.
Son Jacques is playing football during the arrest, survives the war and, after a long search, only reads the official message of his parents’ death in February 1950 in the Government Gazette. All that remains is a photo album, given to the neighbors for safekeeping. Professor Ben-Ali-Libi’s briefcase, a magician’s most prized possession, has disappeared.
Tribute
Filmmaker Dirk Jan Roeleven presented the documentary in 2015 Ben Ali Libi – magician . In March 2017, the municipality of Amsterdam named a bridge after him. His birthplace at Ruiterstraat 7 in Groningen was given a memorial on September 1 of that year. Stumbling stones were placed in July 2021 in front of the home of the Velleman family at Merwedeplein 59 in Amsterdam.
Last year Het Verhalen Cabinet staged a narrative performance about Ben-Ali-Libi in various places, with Harold van Hees (vocals and piano), Esther de Boer (vocals and clarinet), Douwe van der Bijl (storyteller and vocals) and George Tokaya , magician.
Professor Phillipini
Besides Professor Ben-Ali-Libi, there is another Jewish magician, born in the province of Groningen, who was killed during the war: Professor Philippini from Uithuizen. The men knew each other well.
It is the stage name of Philippus Knorringa (Uithuizen, July 21, 1881-Auschwitz, November 23, 1942) from Uithuizen. He worked as an insurance agent, livestock inspector and ritual slaughterer and toured the province of Groningen in the 1920s with his magic and revue programme.
Philippini regularly advertised in Nieuwsblad van het Noorden. On December 12, 1925, he placed an advertisement offering to “bring hope and light to the people” during the cold evenings of the month.
Philippus Knorringa was married to Ida Ullmann (Westheim, 6 May 1886-Auschwitz, 23 November 1942). The marriage was blessed with four children and they lived in Uithuizen at Brouwerijstraat 30.
Philippini and Ida were gassed in Auschwitz. Only daughters Mathilde and Froukje survived the war. The couple’s suitcase is on display in The Dutch Pavilion in the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
In the illusion
George Tokaya shows tricks by Professor Ben-Ali-Libi and Professor Philippini in Het Verhalen Cabinet’s performance ‘In de Illusie’, which can be seen in October.
A piece about the two Jewish magicians born in Groningen and their wives, Anna and Ida. The husbands tell the story of Ben-Ali-Libi and Philippini, but also their own role in the lives of their husbands. The music, clarinet, violin, accordion and vocals, conveys the atmosphere of the pre-war years of the Jewish revue and cabaret ( www.verhalencabinet.nl ).