Dirk Jan de Geer

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Jonkheer Dirk Jan de Geer (born 14 December 1870 – died 28 November 1960) was a lawyer, conservative statesman and prime minister of The Netherlands (1926–1929, 1939–1940). He was disgraced for advocating a peace settlement between the Kingdom and Nazi Germany in 1940.

Born in Groningen, he was a a descendant of the de Geer family painted by Rembrandt. After receiving his doctorate in law in 1895, De Geer worked as a journalist and acted as town councillor of Rotterdam (1901–1907). He served as a Christian Historical (CHU) member of Parliament.

De Geer was a stable and respected politician before the war. After the end of the fifth cabinet of Colijn he was asked to form a government. However he was not suited for the role of prime minister of a nation at war as he knew himself. When the Germans attacked the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, the situation became soon very serious. Because of this the government decided to flee to London.

When in London, De Geer advocated negotiating a separate peace between the Netherlands and the Third Reich. He damaged the Dutch government and the Dutch morale by openly stating that the war could never be won. He was finally removed from office on the instigation of the iron-willed Queen Wilhelmina, and replaced by Gerbrandy.

Later on, he was sent with a diplomatic package to the Dutch East Indies, present day Indonesia. He never arrived there: on a stop-over in Portugal he left, and returned to his family in the Netherlands with the permission of the Germans. This greatly angered Queen Wilhelmina, who called him a traitor and deserter to the Dutch cause. He later wrote a controversial leaflet with "instructions" for the people on how to cooperate with the Germans. Wilhelmina warned him that if he went on to publish this, he would be put on trial after the liberation.

Nonetheless, he went through with the publication; after the war he was duly accused and brought to trial. He was found guilty and stripped of all of his honorary titles. He died some 15 years later in Soest, embittered and still believing in his innocence.

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