Harry Mulisch Harry Kurt Victor Mulisch ( 29 July 1927 – 30 October 2010 ) was a Dutch writer . He wrote more than 80 novels , plays , essays , poems and philosophical reflections . These have been translated into more than 30 languages . Along with Willem Frederik Hermans and Gerard Reve , Mulisch is considered one of the " Great Three " of Dutch postwar literature . His novel " The Assault " became a 1986 film , which won both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award . A 2007 poll revealed his 1992 novel " The Discovery of Heaven " as the " Best Dutch Book Ever " . He was regularly thought of as a possible future Nobel laureate . Mulisch was associated with accessories such as his spectacles and pipe . Life . Mulisch was born in Haarlem and lived in Amsterdam from 1958 until his death in 2010 . Mulisch ' s father was from Austria - Hungary and emigrated to the Netherlands after the First World War . During the German occupation in World War II his father worked for a German bank , which also dealt with confiscated Jewish assets . His mother , Alice Schwarz , was Jewish . Mulisch and his mother escaped transportation to a concentration camp thanks to Mulisch ' s father ' s collaboration with the Nazis , but his maternal grandmother died in a gas chamber . Mulisch was mostly raised by his parents ' housemaid , Frieda Falk . Mulisch said of himself , he did not just write about World War II , he was WWII . Death . Mulisch died in 2010 . His death occurred at his Amsterdam home and his family was with him at the time . Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte described his death as " a loss for Dutch literature and the Netherlands " . Culture minister Halbe Zijlstra bemoaned the demise of the " Big Three " as Gerard Reve and Willem Frederik Hermans had already died . Marlise Simons of " The New York Times " said his " gift for writing with clarity about moral and philosophical themes made him an enormously influential figure in the Netherlands and earned him recognition abroad " . " The L Magazine " s Mark Ashe quoted the American editions of his novels by referring to him as " Holland ' s Greatest Author " and " Holland ' s most important postwar writer " . Works . Mulisch gained international recognition with the film " The Assault " ( 1986 ) , which was based on his book " The Assault " ( 1982 ) . It received an Oscar and a Golden Globe for best foreign movie and has been translated into more than twenty languages . His novel " The Discovery of Heaven " ( 1992 ) is considered his masterpiece , it was voted “ the best Dutch - language book ever ” by Dutch readers in a 2007 newspaper poll . “ It is the book that shaped our generation ; it made us love , even obsess , with reading , ” said Peter - Paul Spanjaard , 32 , a lawyer in Amsterdam at the time of Mulisch ' s death . It was filmed in 2001 as " The Discovery of Heaven " by Jeroen Krabbé , starring Stephen Fry . Among the many awards he received for individual works and his total body of work , the most important is the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren ( " Prize of Dutch Literature " , a lifetime achievement award ) in 1995 . Themes in his work . A frequent theme in his work is the Second World War . His father had worked for the Germans during the war and went to prison for three years afterwards . As the war spanned most of Mulisch ' s formative phase , it had a defining influence on his life and work . In 1963 , he wrote a non - fiction work about the Eichmann case : " Criminal Case 40 / 61 " . Major works set against the backdrop of the Second World War are " De Aanslag " ( The Assault ) , " Het stenen bruidsbed " , and " Siegfried " , the latter an attempt to examine why so many Germans responded to Hitler ' s charisma Mulisch often incorporated ancient legends or myths in his writings , drawing on Greek mythology ( e . g . in " De Elementen " ) , Jewish mysticism ( in " De ontdekking van de Hemel " and " De Procedure " ) , well known urban legends and politics ( Mulisch was politically left - wing , once signing a book " dedicated in admiration " to Fidel Castro ) . Mulisch ' s works are widely read . In 1984 he delivered the Huizinga Lecture in Leiden , The Netherlands , under the title : " Het Ene " ( the unifying principle ) . Planetoid . Mulisch was honored with a planetoid in his name on 12 October 2006 ( see 10251 Mulisch )