Rijk Loek
Rijk Loek was a classmate of Anne Frank at the Sixth Montessori School.
Person
Rijk Loek was the eldest son of Rijk Cornelis Loek and Gerarda Wijnstroot. He had three younger brothers: Kees, Dick and Frederik. His father worked as a sales representative.[1]
From August 1935, Rijk attended the Sixth Montessori School.[2] Like Anne Frank, he was in class B with Mr. Van Gelder, who remained their teacher until the fourth grade. In the fifth year (1939-'40) they were in the class of Ms. Godron.[3] In the 1936 class photo of Anne's class, Rijk is the boy with the tie, left behind Mr. Van Gelder.[4] In the 1938 photo, he sits diagonally in front of Anne and Mr. Van Gelder.[5] After being deregistered from the Sixth Montessori School on 12 July 1942, Rijk went to the 3-year Montessori ULO.[2]
Both Rijk and his younger brother Kees were members of football club Ajax.[6] During the 1944-'45 Hunger Winter, a famine in the western part of the Netherlands, Kees was one of 86 Amsterdam young football players invited by football club VV Heerenveen, to stay with host families in Friesland. Kees told his story in Een Prachtige Daad, a documentary in which he and some of his peers at the time look back on those months in Heerenveen.[7] Rijk remained in Amsterdam during the Hunger Winter.
An all-round sportsman, Rijk played hockey for the Dutch national team and participated in three world championships.[8] In the years just after the war, he rowed for the Amsterdam rowing club Willem II from 1947 to 1953 in the coxless four. This team was the rowing club's first true international rowing team besides the double scull. They rowed on the Henley Regetta, a rowing competition on the Thames in England, and in 1953 won the coxless four at rowing competitions in Paris.[9] He also completed the Elfstedentocht, a long-distance tour skating event in Friesland.[10]
Rijk emigrated to Canada and became a Canadian citizen in 1956. He passed away in 2018 at the age of 89.[10] Brother Kees emigrated to the United States in 1959. He passed away in 2022 at the age of 91.[11]
Source personal data.[10] Address: Rivierenlaan 164-I, Amsterdam.[1]
Footnotes
- a, b Stadsarchief Amsterdam (SAA), Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaarten Rijk Cornelis Loek (1903) en Gerarda Wijnstroot.
- a, b Anne Frank Stichting, Anne Frank Collectie, reg. code A_Montessori_I_002: Inschrijvingsboek voor leerlingen van de Zesde Montessorischool, 29 augustus 1932 t/m 6 april 1959, volgnummer 116.
- ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code A_Montessori_I_036 t/m 040: Kasschriftje van het ouderfonds, Klasse B 1935-'36 t/m 1939-'40.
- ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code A_AFrank_III_055.071: Leerlingen uit de klas van Anne Frank op de Zesde Montessorischool, Amsterdam, 1936.
- ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code A_Montessori_III_002.004: Leerlingen uit de klas van Anne Frank op de Zesde Montessorischool, Amsterdam, 1938.
- ^ De Ajacied die bij Anne Frank in de klas zat, Sport&Strategie, 10 december 2019; Jurryt van de Vooren, Ajax dankt Heerenveen voor de hulp tijdens de Hongerwinter, Sportgeschiedenis.nl, 10 juli 2020.
- ^ Een prachtige daad - jonge voetballers in de oorlog, Omrop Fryslân | YouTube, 9 mei 2020.
- ^ HockeyArchives: Rijk Loek; Elite prospects: Rijk Loek.
- ^ I.M. Rijk Loek, De Landtong, 94 (2018) 4, p. 21.
- a, b, c Legacy.com: Rijk Loek Obituary.
- ^ Dignity Memorial: Kees Loek Obituary,
Digital files (2)
Klassenfoto van Anne op de Zesde Montessorischool, Amsterdam, 4 april 1936
Copyright: Rechthebbende(n) onbekend
Photographer: De collectie kan worden ingezet voor het publiek
Klassenfoto van de Zesde Montessorischool met onderwijzer J.G.E. van Gelder. Anne Frank staat naast hem, Amsterdam, 1938
Copyright: Rechthebbende(n) onbekend
Photographer: Collectie kan worden ingezet voor het publiek.