Hendrikus Colijn
Minister of War | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In office 4 January 1911 – 29 August 1913 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Theo Heemskerk | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Wouter Cool | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Nicolaas Bosboom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Burgerveen, Netherlands | 22 June 1869||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 18 September 1944 Ilmenau, Germany | (aged 75)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cause of death | Heart failure | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Anti-Revolutionary Party | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse |
Helena Groenenberg (m. 1893) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Relations | Arie Colijn (brother) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Children | 3, including Anton Colijn | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | Royal Military Academy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Occupation | Politician · Civil servant · Military officer · Teacher · Editor-in-chief · Businessman · Corporate director | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Military service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Allegiance | Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Branch/service | Royal Netherlands East Indies Army | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years of service | 1886–1909 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rank | ![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hendrikus "Hendrik" Colijn (22 June 1869 – 18 September 1944) was a Dutch politician of the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP; now defunct and merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal or CDA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 4 August 1925 until 8 March 1926, and from 26 May 1933 until 10 August 1939.
Early life
Colijn was born on 22 June 1869 in the
Military service
At the age of 16, Colijn went to a military academy in
Colijn's letters to his wife from his period on
I have seen a mother carrying a child of about 6 months old on her left arm, with a long lance in her right hand, who was running in our direction. One of our bullets killed the mother as well as the child. From now on we couldn't give any mercy, it was over. I did give orders to gather a group of 9 women and 3 children who asked for mercy and they were shot all together. It was not a pleasant job, but something else was impossible. Our soldiers tacked them with pleasure with their bayonets. It was horrible. I will stop reporting now.[2]
Early political career
After his return to the Netherlands in 1909, Colijn was elected as an Anti-Revolutionary Party Member of Parliament for the district of Sneek (before 1918, the Dutch voting system was the same as the British).
In 1911, he was appointed Minister of War[3] and revised the Dutch Selective Service System. In May 1918, he acted as an intermediary between the British and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to arrange an armistice, resulting in the Wilhelm gaining refuge in the Netherlands.
Business life
In 1910, the Holland Dakota Landbouw Compagnie was established,[4] with Hendrikus Colijn and his brother Arie Colijn as the primary shareholders.[5]
From 1914 to 1922, he served as CEO for the
Colijn served as editor of De Standaard from 1922 to 1939.[6]
Prime minister
In 1922, Colijn accepted the political leadership of the Anti-Revolutionary Party (Calvinist) from Abraham Kuyper. Only one year later, he succeeded the resigning Dirk Jan de Geer as Minister of Finance.[3] In 1925, Colijn also became prime minister,[3] but a year later, he had to step down when the House of Representatives accepted a resolution by Gerrit Hendrik Kersten of the Protestant Reformed Political Party that called for diplomatic ties with the Vatican to be broken. That was unacceptable to the Roman Catholic State Party, which was then in government.[7] Colijn then returned to the Senate and from 1927 to 1929 served as head of the Dutch delegation to the League of Nations in Geneva. At the election of 1929, he was elected for the House of Representatives, and he immediately became parliamentary leader of his party. That proved to be a success since at the election of 1933, the ARP gained two seats, and Colijn became prime minister again.[3]
From 1933 to 1939, Colijn served four more times as prime minister. During the 1930s, his government faced the effects of the
In 1939, Colijn's last cabinet, with Protestant and liberal ministers but without Catholic ministers, lasted only three days before a government crisis. He resigned as prime minister on 10 August, only three weeks before the outbreak of World War II.
World War II and death
After the Dutch defeat in the
Late in the war, according to a grandson, after the tide had turned against the Germans, Heinrich Himmler wanted to keep Colijn available as a possible intermediary with the British, as he had done earlier for Wilhelm II. The very fact that the Gestapo allowed the visit suggests that Himmler was already making contingency plans in case of a German loss. In March 1943, Colijn was put under house arrest in a remote mountain hotel in Ilmenau, where he died on 18 September 1944.[9][10]
Decorations
Honours | ||||
Ribbon bar | Honour | Country | Date | Comment |
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Knight 3rd Class of the Military Order of William | Netherlands | 1 August 1895 | Style of Excellency
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Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau | Netherlands | 12 March 1926 | Elevated from Grand Officer (5 September 1913) |
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Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion | Netherlands | 31 August 1929 | Elevated from Commander (11 August 1923) |
Honorific Titles | ||||
Ribbon bar | Honour | Country | Date | Comment |
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Minister of State | Netherlands | 31 August 1929 | Style of Excellency
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References
- ^ Cardinaal, C.N. "Helena Groenenberg (1867-1947) » Stamboom De Kanter » Genealogie Online". Genealogie Online.
- ^ Engelfriet, Aad. "Introduction to the History of the Dutch East Indies Aad 'Arcengel' Engelfriet". home.iae.nl.
- ^
- ^ "Middelburgsche Courant - 6 juni 1910 - pagina 7". Krantenbank Zeeland. 6 June 1910.
- ^ Smits, Mari. "'Anthonie Colijn (1870-1932). Boer, boerenvoorman, burgemeester' in: P.E. Werkman en R.E. van der Woude (red.), Wie in de politiek gaat, is weg? Protestantse politici en de christelijk-sociale beweging (Hilversum: Verloren 2009), pp. 151-176".
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(help) - Parlement.com(in Dutch). Retrieved 1 December 2023.
- ^ (in Dutch) Vaticaan moet plaats kennen; by Lousewies van der Laan, Elly Plooij-van Gorsel and Joke Swiebel, Trouw, 18 November 2000
- ^ Op de grens van twee werelden
- ^ "Dr. H. (Hendrik) Colijn". www.parlement.com.
- ^ Oral History Hendrik "Henk" Colijn Archived 30 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Official
- (in Dutch) Dr. H. (Hendrik) Colijn Parlement & Politiek
- (in Dutch) Dr. H. Colijn (ARP) Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal
- Newspaper clippings about Hendrikus Colijn in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW