Frans Pointl, born on August 1, 1933 and died October 1, 2015, he was a Dutch writer.

Frans was born in 1933 in Amsterdam, the son of a Jewish mother and an Austrian father.

During World War II, he went into hiding. He only began publishing later in life; his debut, De kip die over de soep vloog (“The chicken that flew over the soup”), was a collection of autobiographical stories that also describe that time.

The book was an instant success and earned him a nomination for the ECI Literatuurprijs.

Frans spent the last years of his life in a nursing home in Amsterdam but continued to write.

His last book, De laatste kamer (“The last room”), was published in 2013.

He wrote of longing for death: “Being old is a chronic disease.

Every night before I go to sleep, I hope to slip into eternity. I’ve already written my epitaph: ‘Finally liberated from people'”.

Frans Pointl died on 1 October 2015 at age 82