Fortunes of War

sheet music Henk Fortuin
Het is zo heerlijk om te leven‘ (It’s so delightful to live), published by B.H. Smit in Amsterdam, unknown illustrator, s.d.

A few years back, we received this reaction on our Images Musicales website: “You have a cover of Henk Fortuin. He is my brother and this is the only known photo of him. He lived in Utrecht Holland and was killed in 1943 when a bomb struck the hospital he was performing at.
Thank you for letting us see this photo, it proves that he lived, and was loved.” The mail was signed by Mr. Efting from Canada.

Intrigued, we asked for more information and Arnold Efting told us the rest of the story. Henk Fortuin’s real name was Hendrik (Pieter Harrie) Van Grieken. His father, Arie van Grieken, sailed from Holland to Canada in 1923.

'Emigranten', Swedish Sheet Music by Arvid Brieand
Emigranten‘, by Arvid Briend. Unknown Swedish publisher, s.d.

His plan was to settle there first, and then his wife Enjetta with their son Henk would follow. “But they never did, and my Father grieved for his first son for the rest of his life. He got tears in his eyes just talking about him.
Someone sent my father copies of Henk’s records (no, there are no covers for them, they are just in a brown sleeve). Arie would play the records over and over, tears running down his cheeks. We didn’t have any photos, and the information we do have is so sketchy. We believe he was in his early twenties when he died, we think in 1943 or 1945.”

Sheet music for the 'Emigrantens Hemlängtan' (The immigrant's Homesickness'), by Ernst Rolf and Gösta Stevens, illustrated by Norelius
Emigrantens Hemlängtan‘ (The immigrant’s Homesickness), by Ernst Rolf and Gösta Stevens. Published by Rolf Musikförlags, Stockholm, 1929. Illustrated by Norelius.

“In the 1950’s Arie legally changed his name from Van Grieken to Efting, his mother’s maiden name. Arie died in 1983 at the age of 88. We don’t know what happened to his first wife Enjetta Jansen. Arie had two more sons in Canada, Anthony born in 1941 and myself Arnold born in 1947. The photo on the album cover shows that Henk was the spitting image of his (my) father! What a thrill to find it. Thank you again!

Only recently did we learn more on Henk Fortuin’s short life. For instance that he was born in 1919 in Assen (in the Dutch province of Drenthe), only ten days after the wedding between Arie and Enjetta. Henk was four when his dad left for Canada in 1923, for ever.
Henk’s stage name, Fortuin, wasn’t chosen arbitrarily. In 1925 his mother divorced Arie, and a year later she married Petrus Fortuin, a commercial manager living in Amsterdam.

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Page 642 from the 1926 registry of marriages of Groningen (source: online archives).

On the 10th of May 1940 the invasion by Nazi Germany shattered the neutrality of The Netherlands. The harsh military occupation and German civilian government started for five long years.

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It is in the Dutch ‘Cinema en Theater‘ magazine of november 1943 that we find the first trace of Henk Fortuin’s career as a radio singer. A complete column is devoted to our artist, with the chit-chat so typical to show business.

Henk Fortuin,
Henk Fortuin singing on the factory floor (Cinema en Theater, nov. 1943).

We learn that Henk is a merry radio singer, always wearing a sunny smile and tilted hat. He is serious about his career, works hard and takes singing lessons. Even though Henk is already successful, he remains the ‘simple boy from Groningen’. He tours with other artists and visits the workers in the factories to bring them happy songs. In the broadcasting studios he’s always bright, whistling happily.

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Henk Fortuin’s name (together with that of ‘De Melodisten‘) regularly appears in weekly program lists, newspaper adverts and on some posters for concerts between 1943 and 1944. During those grim war years it was not obvious for an artist to be allowed to perform in public nor to sing on national radio.

Bonte-avond poster, Henk Fortuin 1943
Poster for a ‘Bonte Avond’ concert in Tilburg, with ‘De Melodisten’ orchestra and singer Henk Fortuin; October 1943 (source: www.geheugenvannederland.nl).
Two ads in the newspapers for Henk Fortuin performances with his faithful De melodisten orchestra.
Two ads in the newspapers for Henk Fortuin performances with his faithful De melodisten orchestra. (Left: Haarlemsche Courant, May 26, 1944; right: Utrechts Nieuwsblad, June 22, 1944).

In 1944 Henk Fortuin was still very active touring all over the country. From an article in an Alkmaar newspaper we get the image of a popular singer, who fluently entertained the crowd with Dutch, German and French songs. The audience acclaimed him and happily sang along.

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And then calamity struck Hilversum, the Dutch town synonymous for Holland’s broadcasting centre. A large-scale razzia happened on October 23, 1944.

Arbeitseinsatz in Hilversum 1944
The call for ‘Arbeidseinsatz’ in 1944 in Hilversum, and the 1997 monument commemorating the dramatic events in the Sports park.

About 3500 men aged between 17 and 50 were forced by German soldiers to gather in the sports park in order to be registered for Arbeidseinsatz (forced labour). Broadcast employees weren’t exempted from duty. Later that day the men were put on several transports to Kamp Amersfoort.

Kamp-Amersfoort
Forced labourers on their way to camp (source: Kamp Amersfoort).

Henk Fortuin probably ended up, together with fellow radio companion and jazz arranger Eddy Noordijk, in a small group that was dispatched to Leeden, a German village in Nordrhein-Westfalen. They were used as forced labourers for Organisation Todt doing construction work. In the end 600.000 Dutchmen shared a similar ordeal of forced labour in Germany. All in all it is estimated that 7,7 million non-German workers were thus used in the German war economy.

The damaged church of Leeden after the bombing on the night of the 7th of February 1945.
A damaged building of Leeden after the bombing on the night of the 7th of February 1945.

A few months later, on the night of February 7th, calamity struck again in Henk Fortuin’s life: the village was bombed by the Royal Air Force. The real target was probably a canal nearby. Fifty-two people perished. At least ten prisoners from Hilversum, sheltering in the school, were killed in the bombing. Henk Fortuin was buried in Leeden. His body was later moved to the cemetery of Apeldoorn-Loenen. Around 3600 victims are buried there, all graves almost inconspicuously dispersed on a 17 hectare large wood area. No straight lines of crosses but a winding path of uniformly white grave stones.

H.P.H.Fortuin

Henk’s mother Enjetta died in Groningen in 1974, followed by her second husband Petrus Fortuin two years later.

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13 thoughts on “Fortunes of War”

  1. Droevig nieuws over de Nederlandse zanger Henk Fortuin.
    De mooie afbeeldingen van bladmuziek weer terstond opgeslagen. Bedankt voor dit mooie bericht !

  2. Thank you so much for doing this – our entire family is so pleased to see this and so very grateful to you for putting this all together.
    Thanks again,
    Arnold & Elizabeth Efting
    Burnaby, BC Canada

    1. Here a photo I have with Henk in it. My mother was given this photo by the father of Henk Fortuin many years ago.

      Henk Joore
      Holland.

  3. Dank je wel om dit te doen – onze hele familie is zo blij om dit te zien en dus zeer dankbaar voor het aanbrengen van dit alles bij elkaar .
    Nogmaals bedankt,
    Arnold & Elizabeth Efting
    Burnaby, BC Canada

  4. Ik heb een originele foto van Henk Fortuin, het is de foto die ook te zien is in de poster boven aan deze pagina. Deze foto is vele jaren geleden aan mijn moeder gestuurd door de vader van Henk Fortuin. Mijn moeder had een oproepje in een blad gezet voor informatie over Henk Fortuin. Als iemand een scan van deze foto wil dan is dat geen probleem.

    Henk Joore
    ahum@quicknet.nl

  5. So wonderful to see this photo!! My father had this same photo and I remember it well!
    Thank you for this!
    Arnold Efting

  6. Geachte familie Efting,
    Ik heb een artiestenfoto van Henk Fortuin in mijn bezit met daarop zijn handtekening, welke mijn moeder tijdens de tweede wereldoorlog persoonlijk van hem in Hilversum gekregen heeft. Wellicht is deze foto een leuke & interessante aanvulling op hetgeen hier boven over uw veel te vroeg gestorven familielid geschreven is.

    Met vriendelijke groet,
    René M. Hiensch

  7. Dank u allen, voor zo veel informatie. Ik ben op dit moment een verhaal aan het schrijven over de ontstaansgeschiedenis van het liedje Ketelbinkie. Op het originele handschrift van componist Jan Vogel staat dat het geschreven is voor Henk Fortuin. Helaas ging zijn uitzending op 2 juni 1942 niet door. Frans van Schaik nam het over – en de rest is geschiedenis.

  8. Did Henk grow up in Groningen? There’s another Henk Fortuin and singer, who sang Groninger folksongs for the local radio till the mid fifties. The archive of Radio Noord don’t have any records or idea… So I’m a bit confused. Can somebody help me?
    Is there a possibility to hear some of his records?
    Thanks a lot!
    Maarten Eilander

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