ESSA Amsterdam: Bet van Beeren

 

Bet van Beeren, also known as Queen of the Zeedijk, was the very flamboyant owner of the Café ‘t Mandje in Amsterdam Netherlands which was created to be a safe haven for the queer community in the early 20th century. She was born Elisabeth Maria van Beeren on the 12th of February 1902 in Amsterdam. She worked in a canning factory for a time but soon left to work at her uncle’s pub called the Amstelstroom. She later purchased the pub, which was very unusual for the time, and renamed it the Café ‘t Mandje, (The Basket Café). Due to her own outspoken lesbian sexuality and her acceptance of a wide range of clientele, her pub became legendary in her neighborhood and the early lesbian and gay community. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bet_van_Beeren)

She donated to charity and her community often and when the Nazis occupied Amsterdam during WWII she let her pub be used as an arms depot for the Dutch resistance. It was also a safe haven for the gay and lesbian community because, due to its proximity to the red light district and the Jewish quester, German troops infrequently raided the establishment. When they did, however, she would light a candle set in a plaster owl as a symbol and warning to her customers. This was so influential that the term owl came to refer to heterosexuals in the queer community. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bet_van_Beeren)

As a pillar of her community and the Nazi resistance, hr community has sought to commemorate her well. Her cafe, Café ‘t Mandje, still stands and is still important to the LGBTQ community in Amsterdam. There is a bridge named after her in the red light district, which at first I thought could be a slight to her memory as if they felt they had to build something for her and stuck it somewhere nobody would see it. However, I came to recognize that it was a nod to her building bridges, as it were, between marginalized communities like the Jewish quarter and the rest of the city and to honor the charity work she did for the women in the red light district. This honors both what she did and what she strove to create, so I think she was commemorated well.