After 20 years, the Tokkies are still burdened by an extremely negative image. The family wants to clear its name with a new documentary

For a so-called press day about the new documentary The Tokkies: 20 years later part of the family sits at a regular table in a café in the village-like part of Amsterdam North. Daughter Nathalie Ruijmgaart (42) speaks.

Nathalie is still angry about what ‘the media’ has done to the family. “If you film for 2 months and you choose the most intense one and cut and paste it together, a certain image will naturally emerge.”

Nathalie still worries about her mother Hanna Tokkie (62), who viewers remember with a parrot on her head.

“She sometimes says that she became famous through pain and sadness. She was in psychosis at the time and was manic depressive. When she saw the images again, it was as if her world had collapsed. She didn’t dare go outside for a long time. She is not here because she cannot cope and she does not understand my father in this either.”

Speaking valve

Father Gerrie Ruijmgaart (71) is present at the interview. He had to undergo surgery due to throat cancer, lung cancer and vocal cord cancer, so he has a tracheostomy and communicates through a speaking valve. This makes talking visibly tiring for him. He would do it all over again, he says. “We also laughed during the time we were on television.”

Gerrie suffered the least from the consequences of the documentary. “He thought it was wonderful,” says Nathalie, who was still a young teenager of about 17 when her family was followed in front of the cameras. She was pregnant at the time and her now adult daughter Dounia also sits at the regular table of the café.

“My father puts everything aside more easily,” says Nathalie. “I have always had to prove myself extra. Oh woe if I did one thing wrong. It destroys a part of you. Nephews and nieces have been beaten at school because they bear the name Tokkie.”

Stamp

Even after 20 years, the family still regularly hears how antisocial they are. “When I go into town, I still hear it,” says Nathalie. “Then I have to defend myself every time. This documentary is a success for me if it shows even a little bit what it was like for us. That all that suffering was good for something after all.”

Dad adds: “I have always worked hard and provided my own bread. After the series I lost my job and was not hired anywhere”

Granddaughter Dounia (20) joins the conversation. “As soon as they know that you come from that family, you immediately get that stamp. If my mother had been at school or at judo, I would be bullied about it.”

She continues: “But I stand up for that name. My grandmother is not antisocial at all. She is a wonderful person, the door is always open to everyone. She has always taught us: respect each other and be decent to yourself. The stigma is wrong.”

Apologies from Rutte

To go back to 20 years ago. “My father’s goal was to get help for us as a family from the police, the municipality and the housing sector,” Nathalie explains.

“He thought that if he allowed those cameras, they would have to enforce them. He wanted to put pressure, that was his plan. There was a fight with the neighbors, with the neighborhood, why was there no enforcement? He wanted peace with his family. I was 12 when there was shouting on the stairs and fighting at the door, that’s quite scary for a child. If he said it had to stop, he was beaten up.”

The fact that Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologized in 2016 for using the term ‘crazy tokkies’ when he meant asos does not make up for anything, says daughter Nathalie. “It’s bad that a prime minister puts the population down. Instead of helping in our area.”

Tokkie sauce

They had the burdens, but not the joys, according to Nathalie. “Others have run off with our name. For example, rompers were sold in De Efteling with our name on it, but they haven’t even asked permission yet. And then there is Tokkie sauce. I’m thinking about suing, there are supermarkets that are cooperating.”

Out of love for her parents, who no longer live together, the joined hands of Gerrie and Hanna are tattooed on Nathalie’s upper arm. She doesn’t hope for one thing. “That this documentary is also misinterpreted.”

The Tokkies: 20 years later can be seen on Prime Video from Tuesday, April 30.