Cola Debrot

Cola Debrot studied at Utrecht University. The recorded working language is Dutch. The field of work recorded is belletristic literature, Dutch literature and law. Places of work recorded in the authority are Netherlands Antilles. Positions recorded include Governor of the Netherlands Antilles. Work by Cola Debrot is recorded in the collections of Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Distinctions recorded are Zilveren Anjer.

• Name — Cola Debrot • Office — Governor of the Netherlands Antilles • Predecessor — Aldert van Bruggen • Successor — Bernadito Leito • Term Start — 1962 • Term End — 1970 • Born — 4 May 1902 • Died — 3 December 1981 (aged 79) • Birthplace — Kralendijk, Bonaire, Netherlands • Place of death — Amsterdam, Netherlands • Birth Name — Nicolaas Debrot • Education — Utrecht University

Nicolaas Debrot was born in Kralendijk, Bonaire, in 1902. His mother was from Venezuela. Spanish and Papiamento were spoken in his family's house and he learned Dutch. He attended grammar school in Nijmegen and studied law in Utrecht. He lived on the Oudegracht and became friends with Pyke Koch, Jan Engelman, and Martinus Nijhoff. Debrot studied medicine from 1931 to 1942. During World War II Debrot operated a medical practice in Amsterdam. Willem Frederik Hermans regularly visited Debrot's practice and Debrot introduced Hermans to his patients as Dr. Klondike, which Debrot later used in his book Dokter Klondyke. Debrot worked as a doctor in Curaçao after the war ended.

Debrot first work, the novella Mijn zuster de negerin (My Sister the Negress), was published by Forum in 1935, and it was adapted into a film in 1980. The literary magazine Criterium was founded by Debrot, Han G. Hoekstra, and Ed. Hoornik in 1940. Debrot also worked as a ballet critic.

In 1952, Debrot became Minister Plenipotentiary of the Netherlands Antilles. He was the Governor of the Netherlands Antilles from 1962 to 1970, and was the first native of the Antilles to hold that position.

Debrot moved to Paris in 1928, and worked as a ghostwriter. He met Estelle Reed, an American singer, and married her. Estelle translated Mijn zuster de negerin and some of his short stories. Debrot suffered from depression and physical ailments before dying of prostate cancer in December 1981. He was cremated in Driehuis and his ashes spread over the North Sea.

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