Auschwitz survivors around the world are filled with gratitude as they bid farewell to Cees Nooteboom. They felt very close to his world view and his literary works.

He repeatedly drew on their lifetime experiences and their memories in his works, and they were constantly present in his thoughts. This deeply moved the survivors and in turn encouraged them to speak out and begin writing themselves. Cees Nooteboom was a writer who was driven not only by insatiable curiosity, but also by the joy of wonderment and discovery in life and the world. He loved the beauty and depth of life, but was never blind to human suffering and cruelty. He wrote ‘in order to tame the madness’, and yet saw ‘Light Everywhere’, as he named an anthology of his poems. This was his message and his challenge to us all.