Hendrikus Colijn

Hendrikus Colijn
Colijn (photo by Franz Ziegler)
29th and 32nd Prime Minister of the Netherlands
In office 26 May 1933 – 10 August 1939
Monarch	Wilhelmina
Preceded by	Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck
Succeeded by	Dirk Jan de Geer
In office 4 August 1925 – 8 March 1926
Monarch	Wilhelmina
Preceded by	Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck
Succeeded by	Dirk Jan de Geer
Personal details
Born	(1869-06-22)22 June 1869 Burgerveen, Netherlands
Died	18 September 1944(1944-09-18) (aged 75) Ilmenau, Germany
Political party	ARP
Spouse(s)	Helena Groenenberg
Occupation	Military Officer
Religion	Reformed
Signature

Hendrikus (Hendrik) Colijn (22 June 1869 – 18 September 1944) was a Dutch soldier, businessman and politician who was Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1925 to 1926 and again from 1933 to 1939.

Early life

He was born in 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

Colijn in 1905

Hendrik Colijn's house in Aceh (1890-1920)

At the age of 16, he went to a Military Academy in Kampen for officer training, where he graduated as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1892. In 1893, he married Helena Groenenberg 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, serving in the Aceh War as the lieuteant of J. B. van Heutsz, and six further years in the Colonial administration, having the same role towards van Heutsz when the latter became Governor General in 1904.

Colijn's letters to his wife from his period on Lombok reveal 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."^[1]

Political life

After his return to the Netherlands in 1909, he was elected as an Anti Revolutionary Party Member of Parliament for the district 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. From 1914 to 1922 he served as CEO for the Bataafse Petroleum Maatschappij (BPM). In 1925, he also became CEO of Royal Dutch Shell. In May 1918 he acted as an intermediary between the British and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to arrange an armistice, resulting in the Kaiser getting refuge in The Netherlands.

Prime minister

In 1922 he accepted the political leadership of the Anti Revolutionary Party (Calvinist) from Dr. Abraham Kuyper. Between 1925-1926 and 1933-1939 he served five 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 very strict fiscal policy, which may have further weakened the Dutch economy. Colijn's decision to adhere to the Gold Standard until 1937, long after most of the trading partners of the Netherlands had dropped it, also played a role in lengthening the economic crisis. In 1939, his latest cabinet, with Protestant and liberal ministers but without Catholic ministers, lasted only three days before a government crisis. From 1927-1929, he also was head of the Dutch delegation to the League of Nations in Geneva.

World War II and death

After the Dutch defeat in the Battle of the Netherlands in 1940, he 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. This was immediately after the Royal House had fled to England, leaving him behind. His view was influenced by the tremendous show of force 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 after the tide had turned against the Germans, According to Colijn (grandson of Hendrikus), during a visit by Hendrik in June 1943, reported that 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 in Ilmenau 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 (Thuringen), Germany, where he died on 18 September 1944.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hendrikus Colijn.

1. ↑ Introduction to the History of the Dutch East Indies

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

Ministers of Colonial Affairs of the Netherlands (1848–1945) Rijk  Baud  Van den Bosch  Pahud  Mijer  Rochussen  Lotsy*  Van Kraaijenburg  Loudon  Uhlenbeck  Betz*  Van de Putte  Mijer  Trakranen  Hasselman  De Waal  Brocx  Van Bosse  Van de Putte  Van Oldenaller  Mees  Van Bosse  Wichers*  Van Rees  Van Oldenaller  De Brauw  Willem Frederik van Erp Taalman Kip*  Franciscus Gerard van Bloemen Waanders  August Willem Philip Weitzel*  Jacobus Petrus Sprenger van Eyk  Levinus Wilhelmus Christiaan Keuchenius  Æneas Mackay  Willem Karel van Dedem  Jacob Hendrik Bergsma  Jacob Theodoor Cremer  Titus van Asch van Wijck  Johannes Willem Bergansius*  Idenburg  Fock  Heemskerk*  Idenburg  De Waal Malefijt  Pleyte  Rambonnet*  Pleyte  Idenburg  De Beerenbrouck*  De Graaff  Colijn*  Welter  Koningsberger  De Graaff  Colijn  Welter  Cornelis van den Bussche  Welter  Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy  Van Mook *denotes interim

Ministers of Finance of the Netherlands Ministry of Finance Schimmelpenninck Van Bosse Ossewaarde Van Bosse Van Doorn Van Hall Agnites 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 De Vries Corneliszoon 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 Hoogervorst Zalm Bos De Jager Dijsselbloem

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 Lely 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 De Jong Nelissen Langman Lubbers Van Aardenne Terlouw Van Aardenne De Korte Andriessen Wijers Jorritsma Heinsbroek Hoogervorst Brinkhorst Zalm Wijn Van der Hoeven Verhagen Kamp

Ministers of Defence of the Netherlands Ministry of Defence Lambooij Deckers Colijn Van Dijk Dijxhoorn Van Boeijen Furstner Van Lidth de Jeude De Booy De Quay Meynen Fiévez Schagen van Leeuwen 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 Voorhoeve De Grave Korthals Kamp Van Middelkoop Hillen Hennis-Plasschaert