Monique von Cleef Obituary
Baroness Monique von Cleef
- Obituary
- (1925 - 2005)
- Goodbye to Monique von Cleef
- By Bert Wibo
Suddenly, but not entirely unexpectedly, we received the news from Monique von Cleef`s personal secretary, that Mistress Monique had died on the 4th February in Antwerp, Belgium, after a long illness. Her funeral took place on 9 February 2005 at the Municipal Cemetary in Merksem, Belgium.
I first met her I the 70`s, when she came to the famous Massad studio to order leather clothing. One day after lunch, I went climbing the stairs, to find a middle-aged man chained to the stairs, waiting for his Mistress. He devoutly bowed his head when I passed him and I was then introduced to Mrs von Cleef, a breathtaking beauty who with her natural dominance, acknowledged the presence of the layout setter of the magazine and gave me a friendly nod, before proceeding to discuss her clothing requirements.
She was friendly, but distant â_" but it was immediately obvious, that this was a powerful woman. Later in the day, I was given a sample of her book House of Pain. Her life story to date.
Originally Monique von Cleef came from Heerlen and was worked in nursing in The Hague. There she was approached by a photographer, who was there for a check-up, who was totally overcome by her figure and the magnificent white nurseâ_Ts uniform. Offering a fair recompense, he persuaded her to pose in all types of leather garments, boots and corsets in his studio, for a yet-to-be-published photo book. Although she found it initially strange and had never associated with this type of material, the money persuaded her. The leather enclosed her body like a second skin, her natural dominance came to the fore, and before she realized what was happening her true nature (hidden until then) manifested itself: she came out as a dominatrix and her first experience with a subservient man, was naturally, with the pushy photographer, who willingly subjected himself to her. For clarification: this event took place in about 1954 when she was around 30 years of age.
Let's not forget that there were no S/M Magazines, the topic was rarely raised in the media and it was a big taboo. Still, Monique von Cleef was able to gather a stable of subservient and masochistic men around her.
Her real story begins in about 1960 when she decided to leave Holland for America. With a handful of bondage items and her leather clothing hidden in the rest of her luggage she moved to New York, where, within a year, thanks to a growing band of faithful followers, she transformed a large townhouse in Newark, New Jersey into a Walhalla for masochists, subservient and fetishists. In the years 1962 to 1967, the place gets to be known as The House of Pain and is put on the map through the efforts of Lenny Burtman and his magazines Exotique and Bizarre Life.
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