Jan Vermolen
You can hardly get more Hague than Jan Vermolen. Straight to the point, lots of humor and enough stories for a biography. We meet Jan at Paviljoen Malieveld. Known to the people of The Hague as the poffertjes tent on the Malieveld. A household name since 1941. And Jan wanted to have his picture taken with the skyline of The Hague. And that is clearly visible from here. Over a cup of coffee and a glass of cola, Jan tells us about his youth, his life as a funfair operator and the famous oliebollen bakery on the Grote Markt. And of course his love for the city and the culture of The Hague.
'The Hague culture is dying out a bit and that's a shame. People from outside the city always have to get used to our directness, but in the end they like it. I've been in villages and cities all over the country for years. Including a village in the Achterhoek. At first they were shocked by my directness. Afterwards we always went for a drink in the local beer tent. The last time I was there, I went on their shoulders and everyone shouted "Jantje bedankt". That's nice.
'What I also introduced in many places at that time is the Katjang bacon sandwich. In The Hague you can get it at many sandwich shops such as Broodje van Dootje and De Vrijheid. At one point we sold almost 1500 a day. They liked it so much, they almost got a curly tail,' Jan says laughing.
trailer park
Jan is the seventh generation that earns its money with fairground exploitation. And they have always lived on a trailer park. As a child near the Westeinde. Where as a child he removed the needles from the syringes at the garbage, there indeed water and thus made his own water pistol.
'Freedom for me means: not having any worries on your mind'
Freedom
NATO in The Hague
