Robert Kroon
Encyclopedia
Robert L. Kroon was a prominent Dutch
journalist
who reported on conflicts and other stories as a foreign correspondent
from Africa
, Asia
and Europe
for nearly 60 years.
in the years followingWorld War II
. His first reports for the AP
came in 1949 during the Indonesia
n war of independence
against the Netherlands
. Kroon was expelled from Indonesia in 1952 by the country's military for, in his own words, "'inimical reporting' about a rebellion in the Indonesian Spice Islands
." (which are now known as Maluku
or the Moluccas)
Kroon began reporting as a foreign correspondent
for Time Magazine in 1953 following his expulsion from Indonesia. He was based in Geneva, Switzerland, during this time and also reported for Dutch news media outlets while at Time. Kroon reported on several important conflicts for Time Magazine. Kroon covered the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary and the 1968 Prague Spring
uprising. He also reported from the Belgian Congo
as the colony gained its independence from Belgium
in the early 1960s.
Additionally, Kroon went on to report for such major news centers as NBC
and The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
, several Dutch and Belgian radio stations, as well as Benelux
television broadcasters later in his career."
Kroon always tried to work for a wide range of Dutch media while continuing to report for major international publications, according to Kroon's former boss, Dutch journalist Wibo van de Linde, who was Kroon's boss at Avro and Tros (a weekly news magazine on Dutch television) for 15 years.
Kroon continued to work as a contributor for the International Herald Tribune
in Paris, France, throughout the 1990s. Kroon interviewed a wide range of political leaders and prominent entertainers throughout his career as a journalist. He counted Sukarno
, Suharto, Charles de Gaulle
, Frank Sinatra
, Charlie Chaplin
and Peter Ustinov
among his most important subjects.
in January 2007. He stopped his daily reporting while undergoing cancer treatment in order to finish his memoir
. His memoir, written in English and entitled "A Lifetime of News" was finished shortly before his death, according to news colleagues. The forward for his memoir was written by former Swiss President and U.N. adviser on sport, Adolf Ogi
. Ogi writes, "In this book, Bob looks back on his youth in the Netherlands under Nazi occupation, the independence of Indonesia, and his reports for a U.S. weekly from countries behind the Iron Curtain, at a time when American journalists were not welcome there." His memoir has not yet been published as of July 2007.
Kroon had reportedly been responding well to his chemotherapy
treatment. However, he was hospitalized on June 20, 2007 and died four days later in a hospital clinic near Lake Geneva
. Kroon was 82. He was survived by his son and daughter, Peter Kroon and Tesa Kroon, as well as his partner, Yvonne Kilian.
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
who reported on conflicts and other stories as a foreign correspondent
Foreign correspondent
Foreign Correspondent may refer to:*Foreign correspondent *Foreign Correspondent , an Alfred Hitchcock film*Foreign Correspondent , an Australian current affairs programme...
from Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
for nearly 60 years.
Career
Kroon began his work for the Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
in the years followingWorld War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. His first reports for the AP
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
came in 1949 during the Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n war of independence
Indonesian National Revolution
The Indonesian National Revolution or Indonesian War of Independence was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between Indonesia and the Dutch Empire, and an internal social revolution...
against the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. Kroon was expelled from Indonesia in 1952 by the country's military for, in his own words, "'inimical reporting' about a rebellion in the Indonesian Spice Islands
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...
." (which are now known as Maluku
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...
or the Moluccas)
Kroon began reporting as a foreign correspondent
Foreign correspondent
Foreign Correspondent may refer to:*Foreign correspondent *Foreign Correspondent , an Alfred Hitchcock film*Foreign Correspondent , an Australian current affairs programme...
for Time Magazine in 1953 following his expulsion from Indonesia. He was based in Geneva, Switzerland, during this time and also reported for Dutch news media outlets while at Time. Kroon reported on several important conflicts for Time Magazine. Kroon covered the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary and the 1968 Prague Spring
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
uprising. He also reported from the Belgian Congo
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...
as the colony gained its independence from Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
in the early 1960s.
Additionally, Kroon went on to report for such major news centers as NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
, several Dutch and Belgian radio stations, as well as Benelux
Benelux
The Benelux is an economic union in Western Europe comprising three neighbouring countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. These countries are located in northwestern Europe between France and Germany...
television broadcasters later in his career."
Kroon always tried to work for a wide range of Dutch media while continuing to report for major international publications, according to Kroon's former boss, Dutch journalist Wibo van de Linde, who was Kroon's boss at Avro and Tros (a weekly news magazine on Dutch television) for 15 years.
Kroon continued to work as a contributor for the International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
in Paris, France, throughout the 1990s. Kroon interviewed a wide range of political leaders and prominent entertainers throughout his career as a journalist. He counted Sukarno
Sukarno
Sukarno, born Kusno Sosrodihardjo was the first President of Indonesia.Sukarno was the leader of his country's struggle for independence from the Netherlands and was Indonesia's first President from 1945 to 1967...
, Suharto, Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
and Peter Ustinov
Peter Ustinov
Peter Alexander Ustinov CBE was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humourist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter...
among his most important subjects.
Death
Kroon was diagnosed with pancreatic cancerPancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
in January 2007. He stopped his daily reporting while undergoing cancer treatment in order to finish his memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
. His memoir, written in English and entitled "A Lifetime of News" was finished shortly before his death, according to news colleagues. The forward for his memoir was written by former Swiss President and U.N. adviser on sport, Adolf Ogi
Adolf Ogi
Adolf Ogi is a Swiss politician from the village of Kandersteg in the Swiss Alps.He was elected to the Swiss Federal Council on 9 December 1987, as member of the Swiss People's Party from the Canton of Berne...
. Ogi writes, "In this book, Bob looks back on his youth in the Netherlands under Nazi occupation, the independence of Indonesia, and his reports for a U.S. weekly from countries behind the Iron Curtain, at a time when American journalists were not welcome there." His memoir has not yet been published as of July 2007.
Kroon had reportedly been responding well to his chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
treatment. However, he was hospitalized on June 20, 2007 and died four days later in a hospital clinic near Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva or Lake Léman is a lake in Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. 59.53 % of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland , and 40.47 % under France...
. Kroon was 82. He was survived by his son and daughter, Peter Kroon and Tesa Kroon, as well as his partner, Yvonne Kilian.