Gerrit Hendrik Kersten
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gerrit Hendrik Kersten | |
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Member of parliament
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| In office 1922 – 1945 |
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Head of Reformed Political Party
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| In office 1918 – 1945 |
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| Preceded by | none |
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| Succeeded by | Pieter Zandt |
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| Born | August 6, 1882 Deventer, Netherlands |
| Died | September 6, 1948 (aged 66) Waarde, Netherlands |
| Political party | Reformed Political Party |
| Spouse | Catharina Adriana Wisse |
| Children | 6 sons, 4 daughters |
| Residence | Yerseke, Rotterdam |
| Occupation | Minister of religion |
| Religion | Netherlands Reformed Church |
Gerrit Hendrik Kersten (Deventer, August 6, 1882–Waarde, September 6, 1948) was a Dutch minister of religion and politician. In 1907, Kersten founded the Netherlands Reformed Congregations. Eleven years later, in 1918, Kersten established the Reformed Political Party. He was the party's first representative in the Tweede Kamer, after being elected in 1922. He would remain in parliament until 1945.
On the evening of November 10, 1925, Kersten, staunchly opposed to Roman Catholicism, proposed an amendment to the 1926 budget for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Kersten's proposal came down to ending financial support for a Dutch office at the Holy See. The amendment was adopted the next day, with support from government party Christian Historical Union. This led to the resignation of four catholic government ministers and the fall of the first government of Hendrik Colijn. The fall of the cabinet became known as the Night of Kersten.
Kersten was a staunch critic of the policies of Colijn. The speaker of the Dutch parliament had parts of Kersten's contributions to debates edited in the Proceedings no less than thirteen times between 1922 and 1940.
During the Second World War, Kersten denounced resistance against the Nazis, claiming they were sent by God as punishment for desecration of the Sunday. He also refused to sign a 1941 protest of the convent of Dutch churches against the persecution of Jews during the war. After the end of the war, a government committee barred him from parliament. He focussed on writing theological works. Kersten died three years later, in 1948.
