Author, Pianist. She was a Belgian-born Dutch concert pianist as well as an author of poetry and novels. Born in the household of a well-to-do Jewish German merchant, Simons' family fled to the Netherlands during World War I. Since her mother was born in England, the household spoke English as well as Yiddish, Dutch, and German. Having been fond of playing the piano, she made her debut as a concert pianist in 1930. Performing under her maiden name, she quickly gained popularity, both in the Netherlands and abroad. During World War II, with the Nazi invasion of her homeland, her name was initially on the Frederiks-List, which sought to protect several Jews that were considered "of societal significance." They were eventually arrested and held in Westerbork and then Theresiënstadt concentration camps, but the Simons family survived the camp after a prisoner swap was made for munitions and escaping to Switzerland. Her time in Theresiënstadt had, however, taken a toll on her health, and after a successful tour in the United States, Simons ended her career as a pianist due to health reasons. After the war, she began to write, but her first two novellas about her war years remained largely unnoticed and were published under the pseudonym CS van Berchem. Her third work, a semi-autobiographical novel called Een dwaze maagd ("A Foolish Virgin"), became a bestseller, with Simons being praised for her wit and delicate cynicism. Reissued in the original Dutch in 2014, this novel was hailed as a forgotten classic and more recently translated from Dutch to English and 21 more languages. The novel was written from the perspective of a young Jewish girl named Gittel. Her poetry collection, "Wrange Harvest," was published in 1946. Despite her poor health, her death in 1960 was unexpected. A final novel, Als water in de woestijn ("Like Water in the Desert"), was released posthumously. She and her husband, David Simons, had a son.