Aat van Kalken

Aat (sometimes also Dirk) van Kalken was the son of Arend van Kalken (1883-1947) and Huberta Dobbelaere (1886-1973).^[1] His father was director of N.V. Blaauwhoedenveem Vriesseveem in Amsterdam.^[2] Aat was a dentist by profession. After completing five years of secondary school, he went on to study dentistry and passed the theoretical dentistry exam in June 1936^[3] and the second part in November 1937.^[4]

He had already been deemed fit for military service in April 1933, but after re-examination and several postponements, he was called up for active duty in February 1938, where he was assigned to the medical corps. In June 1939, Aat passed his final dentistry exam.^[5] A month later, he established his own dental practice at Olympiaplein 55,^[6] moving to Stadionweg 216 in May 1941.^[7]

Two months later, on 22 July 1941, he married Tiny Burger,^[8] to whom he had become engaged two years earlier.^[9] The Burger family – father, mother, daughter Tiny and son Gerard – lived at Merwedeplein 39-II and were neighbours of the Frank family. They lived on the right-hand side of the main entrance, while the Frank family lived on the left-hand side at number 37 on the same floor. As was customary at the time, the groom came to pick up the bride at her parents' house, and then they drove together to Amsterdam City Hall. This event was captured on celluloid by an acquaintance with a film camera. The old 16 mm film shows the couple leaving the bride's parental home and getting into the waiting limousine. The cameraman also panned the lens to the various open windows. This film contains the only surviving moving images of Anne Frank, leaning out of the window to watch the spectacle. German journalist Ernst Schnabel visited Aat and Tiny van Kalken as part of his research for his book Spur eines Kindes and was shown the film footage.^[10] Van Kalken later gave that part of the film to Otto Frank. The film footage of Anne Frank was used by British filmmaker Jon Blair in his documentary Anne Frank Remembered (1995).^[11]

Dirk was an all-round sportsman. He was active as a javelin thrower for the Amsterdam club AV '23.^[12] In April 1939, he was sent by the Dutch Athletics Union to an international competition in Brussels.^[13] He was also a swimmer and set a Dutch record in the 100-metre breaststroke in January 1935. Both he and his wife played tennis.^[14] On 19 May 1942, Aat reported the theft of his bicycle at the D.D.V. tennis park on Amstelveenseweg.^[15] In the 1960s and 1970s, the couple took up golf and were active members of the Amsterdam Golf Club.^[16] Their son, born in August 1944, would also play golf.^[17]

On Saturday, 21 July 1956, the following news article appeared in the daily newspaper De Tijd: 'Amsterdam dentist A. J. D. van Kalken and his wife were admitted to the hospital in Oostburg on Friday afternoon with serious injuries after the car driven by Mr van Kalken was hit at the Potjes intersection near Cadzand in Zeeland by another car, driven by Mr P. F. from Cadzand.^[18] The injuries are not life-threatening'. The dental practice remained closed for two months as a result of this accident.^[19]

At the end of the 1970s, the couple moved to Cannes in France, but they returned to the Netherlands in 1997. They then settled in Wassenaar, where their daughter lived. In July 2006, they celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.^[20]

Source personal data.^[1] Addresses: Minervalaan 83-I, Amsterdam; Olympiaplein 55hs (July 1939); Stadionweg 216hs (July 1941); Cannes, France (November 1978);^[1] Wassenaar (1997).^[20]