Annie Romein-Verschoor (1895–1978)

Annie Romein-Verschoor was born in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, one of five children of a naval mechanic. In 1906, the family moved to Surabaya, Indonesia for her father's work. Annie's first story was published in a Dutch-language newspaper there when she was 15. After the family returned to The Netherlands, Annie studied Dutch and history at the University of Leiden and wrote for the student newspaper. Her doctoral thesis was published in 1936 as Vrouwenspiegel (A Study of Female Authorship) and won the Dr. Wijnaendts Francken-prijswas. Many years later, it became popular with the growing feminist movement and was reprinted in 1977. In 1920, Annie married a fellow student, Jan Romein, who became a journalist and historian. They also joined the Communist Party in 1920 but eventually left the organization in opposition to Soviet policy.
The Romeins moved to Amsterdam, where Annie became the editor of the Communist magazine De Tribune and later a professor at Amsterdam University and a freelance journalist. The couple had three children born in quick succession. Between 1926 and 1932, Annie wrote some 200 book reviews of Scandinavian and Dutch literature for the Algemeen Handelsblad. Together with her husband, she wrote two books on Dutch history that brought them national fame, De lage landen bij de zee (The Low Countries by the Sea 1934) and Erflaters van onze beschaving (Testators of our Civilization, four volumes, 1938–1940), a collection of 36 biographies of famous figures in Dutch history. She became a leader in the anti-fascist movement. During World War II, the family was forced to go into hiding. Annie later became a highly successful writer on her own. Her 1970 autobiography Omzien in verwondering (Looking Back in Wonder) was a bestseller and received the Constantijn Huygensprijs. Annie
also wrote an introduction in the first edition of Het Achterhuis (The Annex, 1947) of Anne Frank's diary, later reprinted under the title The Diary of a Young Girl.