Jacques van Tol

Songwriter and playwriter, born 22 November 1897 in Aalsmeer, Netherlands, died 24 July 1969 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Active from the 1920s well into the 1960s, he has written an incredible amount of popular songs for artists such as Louis Davids, Willy Derby, Wim Sonneveld and many others. Van Tol often used aliases for his work, even more so after World War II when he had become controversial for his NSB (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging) membership. Although he had left that party in 1944 and served three years in prison after the war, he was never really rehabilitated. Ironically, van Tol -using the alias Bert van Eijck- is also the composer of Als Op Het Leidscheplein De Lichtjes Weer Eens Branden Gaan, a hopeful "anti-occupation" song popular during the last years of WWII. Jacques van Tol is the father of Tol Hansse.