Hendrikus Colijn - Misplaced Pages

Parliament






Parliamentary leader in the Senate
In office 23 September 1926 – 17 September 1929
Preceded by	Anne Anema
Succeeded by	Anne Anema
Parliamentary group	Anti-Revolutionary Party
Member of the Senate
In office 31 October 1939 – 18 September 1944
In office 23 September 1926 – 21 August 1929
In office 15 September 1914 – 10 November 1920
Parliamentary group	Anti-Revolutionary Party
Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives
In office 17 September 1929 – 23 May 1933
Preceded by	Theo Heemskerk
Succeeded by	Jan Schouten
In office 11 July 1922 – 11 August 1923
Preceded by	Victor Henri Rutgers
Succeeded by	Victor Henri Rutgers
Parliamentary group	Anti-Revolutionary Party
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 8 June 1937 – 25 June 1937
In office 17 September 1929 – 26 May 1933
In office 25 July 1922 – 15 August 1923
In office 9 November 1909 – 4 January 1911
Parliamentary group	Anti-Revolutionary Party

Personal details

Born

(1869-06-22)22 June 1869
Burgerveen, Netherlands

Died

18 September 1944(1944-09-18) (aged 75)
Ilmenau, Germany

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

Signature

Military service

Allegiance

Netherlands

Branch/service

Royal Netherlands East Indies Army

Years of service

1886–1909

Rank

Major

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 Haarlemmermeer to Antonie Colijn and Anna Verkuijl, who had migrated to the newly created Haarlemmermeer polder from the Land of Heusden and Altena for religious reasons. He was the first of six children, all of whom were born in Haarlemmermeer. Colijn grew up in the Land of Altena.

Military service

At the age of 16, Colijn went to a military academy in Kampen for officer training, where he graduated as a second lieutenant in 1892. On 18 September 1893, he married Helena Groenenberg (23 September 1867 – 14 February 1947) and was sent to the Dutch East Indies. During his 16 years in the Dutch East Indies, he spent ten years in the colonial army. He served in the Aceh War as the lieutenant of J. B. van Heutsz and six further years in the colonial administration as a lieutenant when van Heutsz became Governor General in 1904.

Colijn's letters to his wife from his period on Lombok reveal that his participation in acts of brutality which by modern standards would be considered severe war crimes:

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.

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 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, with Hendrikus Colijn and his brother Arie Colijn as the primary shareholders.

From 1914 to 1922, he served as CEO for the Bataafse Petroleum Maatschappij (BPM). In 1925, he also became CEO of Royal Dutch Shell.

Colijn served as editor of De Standaard from 1922 to 1939.

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. In 1925, Colijn also became prime minister, 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 mission to the Holy See to be recalled. That was unacceptable to the Roman Catholic State Party, which was then in government. 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.

From 1933 to 1939, Colijn served four more times as prime minister. During the 1930s, his government faced the effects of the Great Depression, which took a heavy toll on the Netherlands. Colijn's government responded to the economic crisis with a strict protectionist policy, which continued to weaken the Dutch economy. Colijn's decision to adhere to the gold standard until 1936, long after most of the trading partners of the Netherlands had dropped it, was very unpopular with those in favour of government fiat money.

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 Battle of the Netherlands in 1940, Colijn published an essay entitled "On the Border of Two Worlds" (Op de Grens van Twee Werelden) in which he called for accepting German leadership in Europe immediately after the Royal House had fled to England and left him behind. His view was influenced by the tremendous show of force that the German blitzkrieg had shown and the relative weakness of the Allied forces. Soon thereafter, he tried to organize political resistance but was arrested in June 1941 and taken to Berlin for interrogation. The Germans tried to have him confess that he had conspired with the British to invade the Netherlands to serve as an excuse for the German invasion.

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.

Decorations

Honours
Honour	Country	Date	Comment
Knight 3rd Class of the Military Order of William	Netherlands	1 August 1895	Style of Excellency
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau	Netherlands	12 March 1926	Elevated from Grand Officer (5 September 1913)
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
	Minister of State	Netherlands	31 August 1929	Style of Excellency

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. Archived from the original on 7 March 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2006.
^ "Defense in two spheres - Holland's New Cabinet". The Age. 25 May 1939. p. 8. Retrieved 13 May 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
"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". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
"Dr. H. Colijn". 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

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

House of Representatives of the Netherlands
Preceded byHendrik Pollema	Member for Sneek 1909–1911	Succeeded byJan Gerrit Scheurer
Party political offices
Preceded byAbraham Kuyper	Leader of the Anti-Revolutionary Party 1920–1944	Succeeded byJan Schouten
Preceded byAbraham Kuyper	Chairman of the Anti-Revolutionary Party 1920–1933 1939–1944
Preceded byJan Schouten
Preceded byVictor Henri Rutgers	Parliamentary leader of the Anti-Revolutionary Party in the House of Representatives 1922–1923 1929–1933	Succeeded byVictor Henri Rutgers
Preceded byTheo Heemskerk		Succeeded byJan Schouten
Preceded byAnne Anema	Parliamentary leader of the Anti-Revolutionary Party in the Senate 1926–1929	Succeeded byAnne Anema
Political offices
Preceded byWouter Cool	Minister of War 1911–1913	Succeeded byNicolaas Bosboom
Preceded byJan Wentholt	Minister of the Navy 1912–1913	Succeeded byJean Jacques Rambonnet
Preceded byDirk Jan de Geer	Minister of Finance 1923–1926 1939 Ad interim	Succeeded byDirk Jan de Geer
Preceded byJacob Adriaan de Wilde	Minister of Finance 1923–1926 1939 Ad interim	Succeeded byChristiaan Bodenhausen
Preceded byCharles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck	Prime Minister of the Netherlands 1925–1926 1933–1939	Succeeded byDirk Jan de Geer
Preceded byCharles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck	Prime Minister of the Netherlands 1925–1926 1933–1939	Succeeded byDirk Jan de Geer
Preceded bySimon de Graaff	Minister of Colonial Affairs 1925 Ad interim 1933–1937	Succeeded byCharles Welter
Preceded bySimon de Graaff		Succeeded byCharles Welter
Preceded byTimotheus Verschuur	Minister of Economic Affairs 1934 Ad interim 1939	Succeeded byMax Steenberghe
Preceded byMax Steenberghe	Minister of Economic Affairs 1934 Ad interim 1939	Succeeded byMax Steenberghe
Preceded byJacob Kalff	Minister of Water Management 1935 Ad interim	Succeeded byOtto van Lidth de Jeude
Preceded byLaurentius Nicolaas Deckers	Minister of Defence 1935–1937	Succeeded byJannes van Dijk
Preceded byAndries Cornelis Dirk de Graeff	Minister of Foreign Affairs 1937 Ad interim	Succeeded byJacob Adriaan Nicolaas Patijn

v t e Prime ministers of the Netherlands
Schimmelpenninck De Kempenaer Thorbecke Van Hall Van der Brugghen Rochussen Van Hall Ja. Van Zuylen van Nijevelt Van Heemstra Thorbecke Fransen van de Putte Ju. Van Zuylen van Nijevelt Van Bosse Thorbecke De Vries J. Heemskerk Kappeyne van de Coppello Van Lynden van Sandenburg J. Heemskerk Mackay Van Tienhoven Roëll Pierson Kuyper De Meester T. Heemskerk Cort van der Linden Ruijs de Beerenbrouck Colijn De Geer Ruijs de Beerenbrouck Colijn De Geer Gerbrandy Schermerhorn Beel Drees Beel De Quay Marijnen Cals Zijlstra De Jong Biesheuvel Den Uyl Van Agt Lubbers Kok Balkenende Rutte Schoof
List (education ◌ religion)

v t e Ministers of foreign affairs of the Netherlands
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Buys Gogel Van der Goes van Dirxland Röell Mollerus Van der Heim Van Hogendorp Van Nagell Reinhold Van Reede De Coninck Verstolk van Soelen H. van Zuylen van Nijevelt Huyssen van Kettendijke Schimmelpenninck van der Oye De la Sarraz Van Randwijck Schimmelpenninck Bentinck van Nijenhuis Lightenvelt Van Sonsbeeck Ja. van Zuylen van Nijevelt Van Hall Gevers van Endegeest Van Goltstein Van Hall Ju. van Zuylen van Nijevelt Van der Goes van Dirxland Ja. van Zuylen van Nijevelt Strens Stratenus Van der Maesen de Sombreff Huyssen van Kattendijke Cremers Ju. van Zuylen van Nijevelt Van Mulken Roest van Limburg Van Mulken Gericke van Herwijnen Van der Does de Willebois Van Heeckeren van Kell Van Lynden van Sandenburg Rochussen Van der Does de Willebois Du Tour van Bellinchave Van Karnebeek Hartsen Van Tienhoven Jansen Röell De Beaufort Van Lynden Ellis Van Weede van Berencamp Ellis Van Tets van Goudriaan De Marees van Swinderen Cort van der Linden Loudon Van Karnebeek Beelaerts van Blokland De Graeff Ruijs de Beerenbrouck Colijn Patijn Van Kleffens Van Roijen Van Boetzelaer van Oosterhout Stikker Beyen Luns Schmelzer Van der Stoel Van der Klaauw Van der Stoel Van Agt Van den Broek Kooijmans Van Mierlo Van Aartsen De Hoop Scheffer Bot Verhagen Rosenthal Timmermans Koenders Zijlstra Kaag Blok Kaag De Bruijn Knapen Hoekstra Schreinemacher Slot Veldkamp

v t e Ministers of defence of the Netherlands
Ministry of Defence
Schokking s'Jacob Staf Van den Bergh De Quay Visser De Jong Den Toom De Koster Vredeling Stemerdink Kruisinga De Koning Scholten De Geus Van Mierlo De Ruiter Van Eekelen Bukman Bolkestein Ter Beek Pronk Ter Beek Voorhoeve De Grave Korthals Kamp Van Middelkoop Hillen Hennis-Plasschaert Dijkhoff A. Bijleveld Grapperhaus Kamp Ollongren Brekelmans

v t e Ministers of transport and water management of the Netherlands
Ministry of Transport and Water Management
Lely De Marez Oyens Kraus Veegens Kraus Bevers Talma Regout Lely König Van Swaay Bongaerts Van der Vegte Reymer Kalff Colijn Van Lidth de Jeude Van Buuren Van Lidth de Jeude Albarda Wijffels Tromp S. Van Schaik Vos J. Van Schaik Spitzen Wemmers Algera Witte Van Aartsen Korthals Van Aartsen Suurhoff Bogaers Suurhoff De Quay Bakker Drees Jr. Udink Westerterp Tuijnman Zeevalking Kroes Maij-Weggen Andriessen Jorritsma Netelenbos De Boer Peijs Eurlings

v t e Ministers of economic affairs of the Netherlands
Ministry of Economic Affairs
Tak van Poortvliet Klerck Van den Bergh Tromp Bastert Havelaar Lely Van der Sleijden De Marez Oyens Kraus Veegens Talma Treub Posthuma Van IJsselsteyn Ruijs de Beerenbrouck Aalberse Koolen Slotemaker de Bruïne Verschuur Colijn Steenberghe Gelissen Steenberghe Colijn Steenberghe Van den Tempel Kerstens Van den Broek Gispen Vos Huysmans Mansholt Van den Brink Zijlstra De Pous Andriessen Den Uyl Bakker De Block Witteveen Nelissen Langman Lubbers Van Aardenne Terlouw Van Aardenne De Korte Andriessen Wijers Jorritsma Heinsbroek Hoogervorst Brinkhorst Zalm Wijn Van der Hoeven Verhagen Kamp Wiebes Van Nieuwenhuizen Van 't Wout Blok Adriaansens Beljaarts

v t e Ministers of agriculture of the Netherlands
Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality
Veegens Talma Treub Posthuma Van IJsselsteyn Ruijs de Beerenbrouck De Geer Kan Ruijs de Beerenbrouck Verschuur Colijn Steenberghe Gelissen Deckers Steenberghe Colijn Van Rhijn Steenberghe Van den Tempel Kerstens Van den Broek De Booy Gispen Mansholt Staf Vondeling Staf Marijnen Biesheuvel Lardinois Boersma Brouwer Van der Stee Braks De Koning Braks B. De Vries Bukman Van Aartsen Apotheker K. De Vries Brinkhorst Veerman Verburg Verhagen Kamp Schouten Staghouwer Adema Wiersma

v t e Ministers of colonial affairs of the Netherlands
Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations
Van der Heim Cambier Van der Heim Van der Capellen Van der Hoop Goldberg Falck Elout Van Ufford Van Gobbelschroy Clifford Brocx Van den Bosch Baud Rijk Baud Van den Bosch Pahud Mijer Rochussen Lotsy De Groot van Kraaijenburg Uhlenbeck Betz Fransen van de Putte Mijer Trakranen Hasselman De Waal Brocx Van Bosse Fransen van de Putte Van Goltstein van Oldenaller Alting Mees Van Bosse Van Rees Van Goltstein van Oldenaller De Brauw Van Erp Taalman Kip Van Bloemen Waanders Weitzel Sprenger van Eyk Keuchenius Mackay Van Dedem Bergsma Cremer Van Asch van Wijck Bergansius Idenburg Fock Heemskerk Idenburg De Waal Malefijt Pleyte Rambonnet Pleyte Idenburg Ruijs de Beerenbrouck De Graaff Colijn Welter Koningsberger De Graaff Colijn Welter Van den Bussche Welter Gerbrandy Van Mook Schmutzer Logemann Jonkman Sassen Van Maarseveen Drees Peters Kernkamp Staf Helders Korthals

v t e Ministers of finance of the Netherlands
Ministry of Finance
Schimmelpenninck Van Bosse Ossewaarde Van Bosse Van Doorn Van Hall Vrolik Van Bosse Schimmelpenninck van Nijenhuis Van Bosse Blussé van Oud-Alblas Van Delden Van der Heim Gleichman Vissering Van Lynden van Sandenburg Grobbée Bloem Godin de Beaufort Pierson Sprenger van Eyk Pierson Van Tecklenburg De Meester Kolkman Bertling Treub Van Gijn Treub De Vries De Geer Colijn De Geer Oud De Wilde Colijn Bodenhausen De Geer Welter Steenberghe Albarda Van den Broek Huysmans Lieftinck Drees Van de Kieft Hofstra Zijlstra Witteveen Vondeling Zijlstra Witteveen Nelissen Duisenberg Andriessen Van Aardenne Van der Stee Ruding Kok Zalm Wijers Zalm Hoogervorst Zalm Bos De Jager Dijsselbloem Hoekstra Kaag Van Weyenberg Heinen

v t e Ministers of the Navy of the Netherlands
Ministry of the Navy
Spoors Van Roijen Ver Huell Van der Heim Van der Hoop Stratenus Elout Wolterbeek Baud Quarles van Ufford Rijk Van den Bosch Lucas Van Spengler Enslie Forstner van Dambenoy De Smit van den Broecke Lotsy Huyssen van Kattendijke Blanken Rijcken Brocx Fransen van de Putte Van Erp Taalman Kip Wichers Van Erp Taalman Kip Geerling Van Erp Taalman Kip Gericke Tromp Dyserinck Kruys Jansen Van der Wijck Jansen Eland Röell Kruys Bergansius Ellis Cohen Stuart Wentholt Colijn Rambonnet De Jonge Alting von Geusau Naudin ten Cate Ruijs de Beerenbrouck H. Bijleveld Van IJsselsteyn Pop Van Dijk Westerveld Lambooij Van Royen Lambooij Deckers Colijn Van Dijk Dijxhoorn Van Boeijen Furstner De Booy Fiévez Schagen van Leeuwen Fiévez

v t e Ministers of war of the Netherlands
Ministry of Defence
Voet Van Spengler Forstner van Dambenoy Van Meurs De Casembroot Blanken Van den Bosch Van Mulken Booms Engelvaart Brocx Delprat Van Limburg Stirum Brocx Weitzel Enderlein Van Erp Taalman Kip Klerck Van Erp Taalman Kip Beijen De Roo van Alderwerelt Wichers Den Beer Poortugael Reuther Weitzel Bergansius Seyffardt Schneider Jansen Eland Kool Bergansius Staal Van Rappard Sabron Cool Colijn Bosboom Rambonnet De Jonge Alting von Geusau Ruijs de Beerenbrouck Pop Van Dijk Lambooij Van Royen Lambooij Deckers Colijn Van Dijk Dijxhoorn Van Boeijen Van Lidth de Jeude De Booy De Quay Meynen Fiévez

Categories: