File 103 - Interview with Wim Wolters

1 cm of textual records. - 1 photograph : b&w.; 4.5 x 5.5 cm. - 2 computer disks. - 1 audio cassette (ca. 1hr., 30mins).

File consists of an interview with Wim Wolters interviewed by Peter Naus in the Netherlands. Wolters is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist living in the Netherlands; he was a friend of Nouwen's. There is an envelope and note in the file from Wolters to Joe Vorstermans that accompanied the photograph. Two interviews were conducted by Naus. The interviews are transcribed and available electronically or in hard copy; two hard copies of the April 27, 2005 interview are available. All recordings and transcriptions are in Dutch. Brief English notes from the interviewer are in the file. They include: 15/06/04 "This was for me the most fascinating of the interviews because of the rather extensive analysis Wim put forth regarding Henri's personality and work. He is clinical psychologist with a psychoanalytic background who knew Henri for a long time and considered himself a close friend. He also knew Henri's family very well. Before the interview started we discussed briefly his ethical concerns about discussing impressions of Henri. I told him that in interviews and pieces I had written about Henri I had been guided by two considerations: not to divulge anything about Henri that was not already in the public domain and to protect as much as possible the privacy of Henri's family". 24/04/05 "Wim is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology. He is still active as a therapist and he is a member of a number of advisory boards a governing councils. I interviewed him last year as well because he and his wife, Milene, are long-time friends of Henri. This time around I wanted to focus on Henri's homosexuality because he had not said much about it in the first interview. He believes rather strongly that the emphasis should be on Henri's impact on people and how he changed the lives of many. As he stated in the tape, Henri's homosexuality as such is not a big issue, but that he did not come to grips with it is. Yet, it would be entirely inappropriate to interpret Henri's writing as the expression of a frustrated, neurotic gay person. One should not hide his homosexuality nor draw undue attention to it". File also includes letters between Wim Wolters and the Nouwen family in Dutch from 1962-1997.

One restricted letter sent to Wim Wolters by Laurent Nouwen from February 24, 1997.

• Dutch

Title based on contents of the file.
The photograph and audio cassettes have been removed from the file and rehoused in photographs box 7 and audio cassettes box 11. Reference copies of the audio cassettes are available (located with the originals). A hard copy transcript of the first interview was printed from disk by the Archivist on July 8, 2008.

Revised by T Wong, 21 July 2021