Personal Life
Zoetmulder was an avid reader, and liked to play the violin. He considered himself Indonesian, or more specifically Javanese. "God had placed my heart in Indonesia. My residence has been decided to be here," he said. On March 3, 1951, he was naturalized as an Indonesian citizen. He enjoyed his stay at Kemetiran, which is said to be compatible with his feeling of being Javanese. He had resided there for nine years.
Father Zoet was a fan of Beethoven and Mozart. In addition to his religious and scientific textbooks, he also devoured volumes of novels and poetry, and detective series. It was said that he owned more than 1,000 detective books in his room, including those written by Ngaio Marsh. He was friends with detective writer John le Carré, and while staying in Bonn, Germany, he received a gift directly from Le Carré himself: a popular book titled "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold". Le Carré's other story "A Small Town in Germany," was "inspected" by Father Zoet prior to publication.
Read more about this topic: Petrus Josephus Zoetmulder
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