Writer Marga Minco has died at the age of 103. She is buried privately. Minco was best known for her book The bitter herbwhich appeared in 1957.
Minco passed away on Monday, July 10. Her family has placed an obituary in NRC.
For her debut, The bitter herb, from 1957, she was awarded the Vijverberg Prize, predecessor of the F. Bordewijk Prize. The jury stated that Minco has become “the Dutch voice in European war literature” through this debut. The work appeared on many a high school student’s book list. The Bitter Herb has been translated into 15 languages. New editions appeared in German and English. Minco has won more literary prizes such as the Constantijn Huygens Prize (2005) and the PC Hooft Prize in 2019.
The Second World War plays a crucial role in Minco’s work. Marga, a pseudonym of Sara, was herself born into an Orthodox Jewish family. Her parents were arrested during the war, but she managed to escape and was the only one of the family to survive by going into hiding. Her parents, brother and sister died.
Some of Minco’s other titles are The fall (1983), The glass bridge (1986, Book Week Gift), days left behind (1997) and Malfunction (2004). Minco’s stories are collected in Behind the wall (2009) and in 2015 appeared After the stars. This collection consisted of choices made by the author herself, supplemented by her novel An empty house from 1966.
She was born in Breda, but lived in Amsterdam. She had previously suffered a cerebral infarction, from which she recovered.
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