Ode to Jo Fiedeldij Dop Phaff | A pretty impressive lady-granny

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For those unfamiliar with Soroptimism, there is a brief explanation at the bottom.

Character sketches, mood impressions and childhood memories
Jo Fiedeldij Dop joined Soroptimist Club Amsterdam Centrum/West in 1972. You had to be nominated by two members. This made membership exclusive and gave it a certain prestige. My grandmother (literary translator, candidate in classical languages, mother of four children, well-read and professional doctor's wife, just to outline that she was a pretty impressive lady-grandmother) was, according to my mother (one of the first hospital psychologists, single mother, second-wave feminist, artist, housing and peace activist, also impressive) very proud of that membership. And though the memory may be colored by now, I remember that atmosphere from that one time she took me to a special club night. A “fashion show” by one of the Club's members. At that time I was in Fashion Trade School (MBO) and my grandmother had thought that this evening could be fun for me. I remember a catwalk with what I thought were rather shapeless clothes made of what seemed to be self-spun, dyed and woven patches of wool. Lots of purple, blue and brown. Artistic seventies/eighties. Totally out of place for an adolescent of about 18. I didn't know how to respond diplomatically to that.

Looking back, I find it touching and very sweet of my grandmother, that she tried so hard to find common ground and give me a glimpse into her world. Quite a risk with a somewhat chunky adolescent, who not long before had hung up her punk hairdo and torn leather jacket. The room was full of women, but of a completely different type than my mother's dungarees, short hair friends (cliché I know) from the Women's House on Nieuwe Herengracht. Here one was mostly neatly coiffed and many lips were painted. Yet it was not a uniformly stiff conservative ladies' club. My grandmother clearly felt like a fish out of water. She, being a socially gifted and very adept conversational lady, made a round in the hall after the fashion show. No doubt with a glass of white wine or sherry in one and an Arsenal without a filter between the fingers of her other hand. Something quite common in those days. I followed in her wake, fun and a little exciting. In my memory, it was a posh venue. Even though I didn't understand everything about the atmosphere of all those ladies-women who were already much further along in their lives than me, who had made it, it impressed me. Because I never forgot it and it was vaguely something I might want to belong to later. That Soroptimist Club remained something mysteriously attractive, although I don't remember my grandmother and I talking much about it.At most, names such as Mance, Gerty and Dieuwke from Dè Club would occasionally drop.

I think the proceeds from the tickets for that fashion show, now that I am a Soroptimist myself, will have been used for fundraising.Because that's one of the things Soroptimists are good at, raising money for projects aimed at improving and strengthening the (legal) position of women and girls.Both nationally and internationally.Her membership in Soroptimism and her approach ties in with something she did with my grandfather pediatrician Hein Fiedeldij Dop.My grandmother wrote about it in the piece each club member wrote about themselves in 1988 for a folder celebrating the club's 60th (diamond) anniversary.

“As board members for over twenty years, we were both very closely involved in the international exchange program The Experiment in International Living.In connection with this, we have traveled extensively in Europe and the United States.”
 

Jo in World War II
As a young mother, my grandmother experienced World War II intensively. My grandfather (pediatrician with his own practice) was actively involved in sending Jewish children into hiding. She told my sister that she herself had nothing to do with it, but from a short excerpt I found from a diary from that time, that doesn't seem quite right. She didn't know any details, I think, because of security, but definitely had knowledge of what he was doing and they listened, when their children were asleep, secretly to Radio Orange with an illegal radio. This shaped both my grandfather and grandmother and they always actively worked for international relations and peace. From a memory of a friend from that time, my grandmother in particular stood out at The Experiment. In Holland, she was often somewhat in the shadow of my grandfather, who was quite well-known in Amsterdam. This organization, like the Soroptimist Club Amsterdam Centrum/West, still exists. Perhaps unbeknownst to her, there was also a connection to a Soroptimist during the war, although the clubs had been disbanded since 1941. Henriëtte Pimentel was the director of the nursery on Plantage Middenlaan, who, in collaboration with the student resistance movement and indirectly with my grandfather, was able to save many Jewish children by sending them into hiding. And was himself murdered in Auschwitz. (Source: my mother and the book 'Wacht maar' Het veelbewogen leven van Henriëtte Pimentel, by Esther  Shaya & Frank Hemminga, chapter: The Escapes)

Housewife or not a Soroptimist?
Another piece by Jo about herself from the 1988 anniversary folder

“With translation I didn't start in earnest until the time our youngest was out the door. After several books in the field of child rearing, I switched to literature. Authors whose works I have translated include Iris Murdoch, Virginia Woolf, Katherine Mansfield, Carson McCullers, Elisabeth Bowen and Ouida Sebestyen (writer of children's books). Member of the Soroptimist Club since 1972.”

That professional change occurred between 1966 and 1971. Before that, she had been doing unpaid administration of her husband's practice for decades, answering the phone outside office hours because concerned parents didn't keep office hours, but that didn't count as work, so then you were a housewife. And the Soroptimist clubs had a somewhat awkward relationship with that is evident from a couple of situations I encountered that are too amusing not to mention.

Soroptimism and the struggle with the 'housewife'
Quite soon after the founding of the clubs and Dutch Union, there was a struggle with whether or not to allow “housewives” into the clubs. There were more ladies-women in the circles around the founders who were active and mediated, yet had no profession. As evidenced by the two situations below. In one of which, to my surprise, Rosa Manus - about whom an ode was also written - also plays a role.

“As recently as 1932, the point was under discussion at the Landdag in connection with a housewife, who did not want to join the club North Holland*: she thought herself such a good housewife precisely because she never went out to dinner or participated in meetings! It was decided to admit a housewife “in certain cases and as an extraordinary member. And this only changed in the seventies...” (source text from folder 60th anniversary Club Amsterdam Centrum/West.) *Club Amsterdam was called Noord-Holland until 1935.

But not everyone was convinced about the title “extraordinary member” either. As evidenced by the minutes of a board meeting of the Amsterdam club on April 30, 1935 in which the nomination of Rosa Manus was discussed.

In which “Vice-President Dr. Biegel notes that we must be careful about admitting women who do not exercise a profession, even as extraordinary members. In this case, however, where it concerns someone who has done and continues to do so much for the work of women in general and for the promotion of the international idea, the board present unanimously decided to appoint
board unanimously decides to propose Miss Rosa Manus to the electoral commission as an extraordinary member” (source: club magazine The Soroptimist July 2014, p. 34, author Ineke Hofstra.) From this I conclude that Rosa Manus did all her efforts for women's suffrage and world peace as a volunteer. She could afford to do the same, but was apparently still considered a “housewife” because of her wealth and unpaid labor. As an aside, another member and one of the founders and board members of the club: Clara Meijers (writer and bank director of De Vrouwenbank) wrote a biography of Rosa Manus in 1946 “A modern woman of stature. Life and Works of Rosa Manus. They knew each other not only from the club, but also from the exhibition “The Woman 1813-1913” and probably from the League for Women's Suffrage.

And had my grandmother not started a career as a literary translator in 1971, she might have been the first “housewife” to become a “full member” of the club in 1974.

Now in 1974 that honor belongs to Roefke Carmiggelt - Polak. Although a professional change occurred in 1985, she became an Addiction Therapist at the Jellinek Center in Amsterdam. As evidenced by the anniversary folder from 1988. According to the text by then president of the club Jeannette Kramps-van Drunen, this was even in response to a national Lustrum campaign devised by Club A'dam C/W in 1978 (fiftieth anniversary) about the creeping danger of alcohol use in cooperation with SIRE, under the motto: Alcohol easily too much, hard back!” Roefke Carmiggelt - Polak is no longer a club member and later became a well-known relationship therapist.

I love to see how my grandmother and now I too since May 8, 2019, are part of history in a huge network of women, Soroptimist or not. With the critical look over my shoulder of my language virtuoso and perfectionist grandmother, who passed away in 2001, I have enjoyed writing this combined personal ode to her and Soroptimist Club Amsterdam Centrum/West. Fully aware that this is only a snippet of the club's now nearly hundred-year history and the hundreds of (former) members who stand in its shadow. But this is an ode and not a history story.

Sorren Odes to 85-year-old Jo
Finally, some quotes from fellow Sorren, characterizing my grandmother as a lady-woman, literary translator and Soroptimist. These are from their letters for the Friends book for her 85th birthday in December 1995. From this I infer that she was still a club member at that time. Despite her move to the Rosa Spierhuis in Laren, she remained a member of her Amsterdam club instead of transferring to club Bussum.

Dear Jo,
“There are people, whom you don't see very often at all, but of whom you think, how glad I am that they exist. You are for me such a person. We celebrated you tonight. I tried to say what you mean to the club and to me...”
Lots of love and a kiss from Mance
Mance (Hermance Berendine) Post, illustrator, 1925

Dear Jo,
“What strikes you when you think of Jo? Her generous smile and the puzzle of the NRC, but they do it in pairs...” Lies ( E M A) van Doorne, human resources policy officer, 1933

Dear Jo,
“What do I think of when I think of our friendship? The engaging way you talk about your translation work, at the Sor, at your house about the classics (the precision, the generosity, your enjoyment of it) and the time you talked about translating To the lighthouse at our house in front of a bunch of women. Furthermore, our drives to the Sor meetings, your down-to-earth view of the highs and lows of Sor life; the imperceptible way (at least to me) in which you deal with your not inconsiderable age, your always beautifully coiffed hair.“”This book will probably be full of praise and praise, so I'll leave it at that. Have a blissful day...”
Unfortunately the signature is illegible, but it was the partner-girlfriend of Lies v Doorne.

Dear Jo,
“We congratulate you with all our heart (and this is also for posterity) because you are such a special person and it is a privilege to meet a person like you. And then to be able to experience as long as we have.”

“We have known each other for almost 45 years now, and you may remember, because, of course, nervous mothers were calling every so often, that you said in that very matter-of-fact voice to call the second half of the evening. But we had no idea when the second half of the evening started. We tried to call at ten o'clock. But we don't know for sure. Now in the first half of the evening we will raise a glass to your birthday, to a long and meaningful life. Cheers!”
Much love also from Jelle, Dieuwke
Dieuwke (Dieuwke Grietje) Abma - ter Horst, sculptor, 1926

Source: friendship book for Jo Fiedeldij Dop - Phaff, 1995 on the occasion of her 85th birthday, compiled by her daughter/my mother, owned by the family. For the signature of each piece, I chose their names, position and year of birth as noted in the 1988 anniversary folder.

What is Soroptimism?

Soroptimist
The name comes from Sorores = sisters and optimum= best So: sisters, Sorores, who pursue the best, optimum.
Soroptimist International, with 66,000 members in 120 countries, is committed to supporting women and girls through action, advocacy and awareness.
The Union of Soroptimist Clubs in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Suriname was founded on Jan. 29, 1928. The Union has nearly 3,000 members in over 100 clubs.
Our club was founded on January 29, 1928 in Amsterdam as club Noord-Holland; the name was changed to club Amsterdam in 1935; split into three in 1970, the original club was named club Amsterdam Centrum/West.

(sources: site www.soroptimist.nl and www.atria.nl where the archives of Soroptimist club
A'dam Centrum/West is housed)