H401 (Castrum Peregrini), officially Stichting Herengracht 401, was known as Castrum Peregrini until 2019, is a private cultural foundation located in the Herengracht building of the late artist Gisèle d’Ailly van Waterschoot van der Gracht (1912 - 2013), Amsterdam. It has roots in the World War II during which Gisèle's flat at Herengracht 401 served as a hiding place for Jewish youngsters. H401's multiple layers of history come together in thematic years programmes and projects, both at the local and international level. For several years now the foundation has explored themes such as Vulnerability to Group Fanaticism, Freedom, Friendship, Collective Memory, the Female Perspective, Diversity (Perplex), Masculinity(ies) and Archival Power. With these programmes rich in artists' intervention, academic inputs, research and public talks, H401 strives for a continuous deepening of issues relating to second class citizenship, homogenic narratives of the past, contested heritage as well as legacy of colonialism and totalitarian regimes. Art, Research and Dialogue are then at the core of the foundation. Through artistic means and devices, H401 promotes a thriving cultural programme that encompasses themes of memory and (contested) heritage resonating with diverse communities.
History of the foundation
Gisèle's childhood and teenage years Gisèle van Waterschoot van der Gracht was born in The Hague on September 11, 1912. She was the youngest of four children: Ides, Arthur and Walter. Her father, Willem van Waterschoot van der Gracht, was of Dutch origin and he worked as a geologist across the world for diverse Dutch companies. Her mother, Josephine von Hammer Purgstall, was an Austrian baroness. Gisèle spent the first three years of her life in The Netherlands and then together with her family she relocated to the United States of America due to her father's work. Throughout her childhood and young years, Gisèle and the rest of her family were rigorously exposed to Catholicism. Similarly to her mother, Gisèle attended the boarding school run by the sisters of The Sacred Heart when living in the U.S.A.
In 1928, Gisèle and her parents travelled back to Europe and to Hainfeld's castle in Austria, property of her mother's family. Due to the move, Gisèle's formal education at the boarding school came to an end. However, in 1930 she began to pursue a Fine Art education at Académie Julian, in Paris. At the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Gisèle received lessons from Bernard Naudin. The study mainly involved working with models. At Edouard Henri Léon’s studio she learned the various techniques of etching and engraving. Her examination piece, a large print after a self-portrait by Jean-Honoré Fragonard entitled L’Inspiration, gained her a Mention Honorable, Section Gravure at the 1931 Salon. Other exhibitions followed.
The war period – Castrum Peregrini as safe house After a period of travelling between The Netherlands and the US, she established herself in first Limburg (L) and later in Bergen, North Holland (ML). In those years, she became acquainted with the renowned stained glass painter Joep Nicolas and his family.
Following 1934, Gisèle devoted herself to her artistic practice; it was in 1937 that she made her debut in the Netherlands at the exhibition “Hedendaagsche Limburgsche Kunst”, The Hague. She was represented with five paintings and a series of illustrations taken from her Paris sketchbook. In 1939 she had her own studio and received her first independent commission for seven stained glass windows in the church of Oostrom, Limburg. During these years rich with personal connection and exposure to the art scene, Gisèle met the artist Adriaan Roland Holst. It is through the latter that Gisèle made the acquaintance of the poet Wolfgang Frommel who had emigrated from Germany. Although he was not of Jewish origin, he left the country shaken by its drastic turn in politics and ideology.
Despite their declared neutrality, the Netherlands was invaded on May 10, 1940 by Nazi Germany. Around that time, Gisèle rented one of the flats in the corner building at Herengracht 401. The Herengracht had always been dear to her as it was the canal where her grandparents had lived. Additionally, the Amsterdam art scene offered more opportunities for artistic assignments. Gisèle began this way her life in the Herengracht 401. As from 1942, the flat hosted Wolfgang Frommel too and shelter was given to two young boys of Jewish origins: Buri Wongtschowski and Claus Victor Bock, respectively 23 and 16 years old at that time. Frommel knew about them given his connection to the Quaker School in Ommen, Overijssel (NL), where Buri was a teacher (painting and drawing) and Claus a pupil. Nevertheless, due to the racial laws and increasing restrictions, they were forced to go into hiding. After several intermediary stops, first Buri came to Herengracht 401 followed a few months later by Claus. Gisèle was aided by the neighbours on the floor above hers, Guido Teunissen and Miep Benz, who offered the possibility to rent a bed for Claus. The other floors of the building were rented out to different tenants who did not, and could not, become aware of the presence of the two “illegals” living in Gisèle's apartment.
Among the hiders and their keeper's network, the flat in Herengracht 401 became known as ‘Castrum Peregrini’, The Castle of the Pilgrim, taking such name after the early 13th-century castle in Israel. The castle was founded and defended by the Order of the Templars during the Crusades. Notwithstanding the multiple attacks, the castle was never taken and it continued offering refuge to pilgrims. Similarly to the original Castrum, the Dutch one hosted diverse people in need among which Simon van Keulen. However, Buri and Claus stayed there the whole duration of World War II.
Throughout the war, Gisèle economically provided for the house which proved to be difficult as she was not allowed to accept official assignments, publicly expose, or sell her work. As she decided not to sign up for the Nazi Chamber of Culture (Nederlandsche Kultuurkamer), her working possibilities were drastically reduced. On their end, Buri and Claus filled their days with art and poetry: sketching each other, translating poems or creating new ones. The war times created a unique bond among the four inhabitants of Gisèle's flat, a strong relationship that grew old with them. Including a network of (often) artistic friends they found themselves surrounded by, among these people: e.g. Max Beckmann.
Among Frommel and the people in hiding, as well as with other selected friends, a new type of bond started developing under the banner of pedagogical eros. As Annet Mooij describes it: “this 'pedagogical eros' was a popular concept in German reform pedagogy of the early twentieth century. It referred to ancient Greek culture, in which boyish love or pederasty – the erotic relationship between an adult man and a growing boy – was a normal phenomenon and was considered an important element in the education of an (aristocratic) boy. [...] Depending on the inclinations of the educator, the erotic element could be limited to a chaste passion or a longing at a distance, but could also take the form of an actual sexual encounter or relationship, legitimised by Greek principles.” Frommel became acquainted with it via the work of the German poet Stefan George whom he looked up to as a literary model. Such pedagogy manifested itself via reading sessions and intimate gatherings to which Gisèle was not welcomed.
The aftermath – Castrum Peregrini, as a German Publishing House Liberation day came on May 5, 1945, and for Gisèle, Frommel, Buri and Claus a new freedom was found and they all parted different ways. Following Gisèle's story closer, soon after the end of the war she had the chance to reunite with her family. Her father had died during wartime (1943), but her mother in the Netherlands and two brothers in the U.S. were still alive. In June 1945 she was reunited with Ides in Amsterdam, who served as a high ranked American officer in the American army as part of the liberation of Europe. For a short period, she went back to America with her brothers, and while there she supported the fund for Dutch art in the aftermath of the war. Gisèle was invited for an exhibition in Schaeffer Galleries, New York, that took place in 1946. She introduced three of her friends: Simon van Keulen, Peter Goldschmidt and Haro op ‘T Veldt. In the frame of this exhibition the fundraising campaign “Let Dutch Art Flower again” (New York, U.S.A.) started, in 1946 she gave her first lecture “Art Underground” which retraced the years of the occupation and Gisèle's own story in Herengracht 401. Such an event marked a turning point in Gisèle's career as new exhibitions and invitations followed this up.
Parallel to Gisèle's growing work assignments and reputation in the post-war years, Gisèle had several exhibitions and built further on her reputation as a renowned stained glass painter, in 1952 Frommel returned to Amsterdam, to the Herengracht and with a circle of close friends he gave life to the German publishing house Castrum Peregrini, based at the Herengracht 401. The publishing had a strong focus on the Geistesgeschichte, in other words, they devoted their research to very specific, often little known, branch of history and cultural manifestations.
Although Gisèle had financially supported the activities of the publishing house as well as its own career, it was only in 1957 that she had sufficient funds to buy the entire Herengracht 401 building. Due to the inheritance received after her mother's death (1955), Gisèle was no longer tied to extreme financial needs, she was able to explore different art and painting expressions.
The dynamics at the Herengracht 401 were then the following: the building hosted the office of the publishing house, private rooms of some of its employees, a common dining room, Frommel's apartment and the top floors as living quarters of Gisèle, which were shared with Arnold Jan d’Ailly. He was the former mayor of Amsterdam and the two of them married in 1959. In the years following the marriage, Gisèle stayed from the spring to the late summer in Paros, Greece, where together with Arnold she had rehabilitated an isolated monastery in ruins into their residency. Arnold had died in 1967. In 1982, after a year based in London, Gisèle settled herself back in Amsterdam, although she kept travelling extensively during her whole further life. In 1988, she had an exhibition at the Galerie Utermann in Dortmund.
The following decades were marked by the deaths of the core group of the Castrum inhabitants. Frommel died in 1986 and Buri in 1999. In the meantime, Manuel Goldschmidt had taken over the publishing house until Michael Defuster became the new director in 1998.
Late 90's – early 2000s, Castrum Peregrini: Intellectual Playground Despite the losses, these years in Gisèle's persona and work receive increasingly more recognition. Starting with the documentary “Het steentje van Gisèle” (1997, ‘Uur van de Wolf’ by van Cees van Ede and Maud Keus) gave her the chance to share with the wider public her life and career.
In 1998, she received the Righteous Among Nations, a recognition issued by the Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Centre (Israel) as non-Jewish person that protected Jews during the Nazi persecution.