Career
During the German occupation of the Netherlands in World World War II Campert was arrested for aiding the Jews. He was held in the Neuengamme concentration camp, where he died. Campert is best known for his poem "De achttien dooden" ("The Eighteen Dead"), describing the execution of 18 resistance workers (15 resistance fighters and 3 communists) by the German occupier.
Written in 1941 and based on an account published in Het Parool, the poem was clandestinely published in 1943 as a poetry card ("rijmprent") by what would become publishing house De Bezige Bij to raise money to hide Jewish children.
He was the father of novelist and poet Remco Campert.
