Josephus
Carel Franciscus (Jef) Last (2 May 1898 in The Hague – 15 February 1972 in
Laren) was a Dutch poet, socialist and homo-erotic writer, translator and cosmopolitan.[1]
Jef Last was involved in the early stages of
COC. A communist writer he had published two novels containing representations
of homo-sexual relationships – Zuiderzee (1934) and Huis zonder venster
(1935), and he was invited to accompany
André Gide on his celebrated visit to the Soviet Union in 1936. Jef Last
fought for the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War, and then worked for
the Resistance during the Second World War.
He was married to Ida ter Haar from 1923, whom he divorced and later
remarried. They had three daughters. Jef was bisexual. He was co-founder of
the homosexual emancipation Shakespeare Club, the forerunner of the COC.[2]
He was part of the resistance group 'De Vonk' (The Spark). He was in contact
with the editors of the magazine 'Levensrecht' (The Right to Live) (1940),
which after the war formed the basis for the COC (Dutch Gay Organisation).
Jef Last was a writer and socially compassionate man. He had a Catholic
background. However, he was very young member of the SDAP and the "AJC". With
these principles, he could not practice as an assistant manager of the Enka in
Ede, and eventually he resigned.[2]
He left the revisionist social democracy to become a member of Henk
Sneevliet's Revolutionary Socialist Party. With his revolutionary friend
André Gide, he
traveled in the summer of 1936 to the Soviet Union. The pair was well
received, but saw through the organized tribute and returned to the west
disillusioned. Much later Last wrote a book about his friendship with Gide.[2]
He last fought in the Spanish Civil War in the International Brigades,
which was on the side of the Spanish Republic. As a result, he lost his Dutch
citizenship because of military service for a foreign power. Shortly after the
Second World War, his citizenship was returned.[2]
From 1950 to 1953, he lived in Indonesia, particularly in Singaraja (Bali),
where he worked as a teacher at a secondary school. He was friends with
president Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta.[2]
The last years of his life were spent in the Rosa Spier Huis in Laren.
After his death, his body was made available to science.[2]
My published books:
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- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jef_Last
- Woods, Gregory. Homintern . Yale University Press. Edizione del
Kindle.