Willy de Bruyn: Embracing Authenticity Amidst Adversity

Willy de Bruyn: A Life Transformed

This article is part of Overlooked, a series of obituaries highlighting remarkable individuals whose deaths went unreported in The Times, beginning in 1851.

In the early months of 1936, a Belgian cyclist named Willy de Bruyn stumbled upon a life-altering article in the Flemish newspaper De Dag. The piece detailed the journey of a Czech sprinter assigned female at birth who was transitioning to live authentically as a man. This revelation ignited a spark within de Bruyn, propelling him to seek out a local doctor and ultimately declare his own desire to embrace life as a man.

Willy de Bruyn (pronounced deh-BREN) was born in the quaint village of Erembodegem, located approximately 30 miles northwest of Brussels, on a day that would be marked by monumental global change—August 4, 1914. This was the day when England declared war on Germany, marking the onset of World War I. Like the Czech sprinter he would later read about, de Bruyn had been assigned female at birth and given a traditionally feminine name. However, from a young age, he felt a strong and undeniable inclination towards masculinity.

By the age of 15, de Bruyn found himself laboring long hours at a cigarette factory, a job he loathed. Despite his discontent, his parents, who ran a local bar, relied on his earnings to support the family. This early experience in the workforce only fueled his yearning for a more authentic existence, one that aligned with his true identity.