Background
Ischa Meijer was born as the oldest child of historian Jaap Meijer and Liesbeth Voet. Ischa grew up in a family traumatised by the experiences of the Holocaust which led to emotional as well as alleged physical abuse by his parents.
Actor journalist playwright writer
Ischa Meijer was born as the oldest child of historian Jaap Meijer and Liesbeth Voet. Ischa grew up in a family traumatised by the experiences of the Holocaust which led to emotional as well as alleged physical abuse by his parents.
They managed to survive, and returned to Amsterdam after the war, where Ischa"s siblings Mirjam and Job were born. The family emigrated to Paramaribo in Surinam in the 1950s, fearing a communist take-over. After a few years the Meijer family returned to Amsterdam after having difficulties adjusting to the environment.
He was thrown out of the house at age eighteen.
Ischa started working as a journalist for De Nieuwe Linie. Later on he also started working for the Haagse Post, Nieuwe Revu (national weekly magazine) and Vrij Nederland (national weekly magazine).
He became well known for his extensive and disclosing interviews. In 1984 he published a controversial interview with politician (and at that time mayor of Rotterdam) Bram Peper, which caused a lot of commotion throughout the country.
Foreign a considerable time Meijer was the host of the radioshow Een Uur Ischa (One Hour Ischa), later transformed into Een Dik Uur Ischa (lit One Fat Hour Ischa).
He also hosted a late-evening show on the television network RTL 5. Meijer had several relationships throughout his life, and also visited prostitutes at a regular basis, giving him the inspiration to write the book Hoeren (Hookers) (1980). In the late 1980s Meijer had a relationship with comedian and actress Jenny Arean.
In the years preceding his death he had a solid relationship with writer Connie Palmen, who wrote a book about her relationship with Ischa, called I.M. (1998).
Several years after her death Ischa"s father Jaap died as well. On 14 February 1995, his 52nd birthday, Ischa Meijer died of a heart attack while on his way to his coffeehouse to celebrate his birthday.
Dutch news media gave much attention to his death. Meijer also played a background role in another book by Connie Palmen, Geheel de Uwe (Entirely Yours).
A documentary on Meijer"s life was broadcast on Dutch television on 14 February 2005 called Ik hou van mij (I love myself), made by documentary maker Kees de Groot Embden.
