The Jan Cremer Krant came out of the raw, rebellious counterculture of the late 1960s. It was a provocative publication that irritated the Dutch intellectual establishment. Jan Cremer (a writer known for stirring up controversy) and poet Hans Sleutelaar started it in March 1967. It didn’t come out on a regular schedule, but it appealed to people who felt restless with mainstream culture, much like the magazine Hitweek did.
The content was a wild mix: sharp letters from writer W.F. Hermans, hard-hitting interviews, and photos of Cremer posing alongside actress Jayne Mansfield. Cartoonist Theo van den Boogaard added satirical comic strips, and the whole thing was designed to be edgy and stir up reactions.
The first issue caused a stir at the 1967 Boekenbal (a major Dutch book industry event). About 1,400 copies were handed out there, and the content upset the Amsterdam public prosecutor so much that officials tracked down and confiscated the remaining copies, effectively banning them.
Only four issues were ever published, spread out between 1967 and 1978. Like the attention-grabbing stunts Cremer used to promote his famous book Ik Jan Cremer, the magazine relied on controversy and shock value to get noticed. Today, these old, hard-to-find issues are considered valuable collector’s items—rare pieces from a decade known for pushing boundaries.
www.ftn-books.com recenty added the 1977 Jan Cremer krant to its collection.
