A QUESTION THAT HAS SO FAR REMAINED UNANSWERED is what accounts for the unprecedented popularity of clandestine literature during the German occupation of the Netherlands. In his introduction to Dirk de Jong's bibliography (1958), Herman de la Fontaine Verwey raised the question of why people who before the war did not give a thought to entering a bookshop suddenly paid high prices for clandestinely published novels and collections of poetry, almost as if these publications represented the nation's conscience. According to de la Fontaine Verwey, Dutch literature was more relevant than ever during the German occupation. He provocatively even labeled the invasion as “useful,” because it made the Dutch public realize the important role of authors and poets in society.

The Popularity of Clandestine Literature

It should be said that even before the war the Netherlands was a country with a strong reading culture. On the eve of the invasion the Netherlands had 120 daily newspapers, with a total circulation of 2.1 million copies, some 650 weekly (news) magazines, and over 10,000 periodicals for a population of only 8.8 million.

During the occupation this need for reading material naturally increased. People yearned for a diversion from the war at a time when only a few forms of entertainment had remained. Hence Johan van Eikeren's simple theory in Perijkelen bij de verzorging van het boek in de oorlogsjaren (Vicissitudes of the Maintainance of the Book Production during the War, 1945): these clandestine books were so attractive because they “brought a ray of sunlight at a time when all color and beauty had been obscured.”