Meyer Sluyser (1901-1973) was one of the best-known Dutch social-democratic journalists during and after the war. He was from a family of poor diamond polishers. Due to lack of money, Meyer was unable to continue his formal schooling beyond primary. He managed to educate himself and joined the Dutch Social-Democrat Party SDAP. In 1929 he became a journalist for the daily Het Volk. During the 1930s he vehemently opposed communism and national socialism.
At the start of the Nazi occupation he fled to England with his family. He held important offices in the service of the Dutch government in exile, including with Radio Oranje (he devised the name). After the war he was active in the Dutch Labour Party PvdA. His close ties with the government at the time led him to be dispatched as a reporter to Indonesia. The collection that the IISH received from his son on standing loan includes many letters to his wife from this period. Sluyser became best known for his nostalgic books about Amsterdam's lost Jewish community.
Text was taken from On the Waterfront - newsletter of the Friends of the IISH Issue 11 (pdf, 1.91 Mb).