Hendrikus Colijn Explained

Honorific-Prefix:	His Excellency
Hendrikus Colijn
Office:	Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Term Start:	26 May 1933
Term End:	10 August 1939
Successor:	Dirk Jan de Geer
Term Start1:	4 August 1925
Term End1:	8 March 1926
Successor1:	Dirk Jan de Geer
Office2:	Minister of Foreign Affairs
Term Start2:	24 June 1937
Term End2:	1 October 1937 Ad interim
Primeminister2:	himself
Predecessor2:	Andries Cornelis Dirk de Graeff
Successor2:	Jacob Adriaan Nicolaas Patijn
Office3:	Minister of Defence
Term Start3:	2 September 1935
Term End3:	24 June 1937
Primeminister4:	himself
Predecessor4:	Laurentius Nicolaas Deckers
Successor4:	Jannes van Dijk
Office5:	Minister of Water Management
Term Start5:	13 January 1935
Term End5:	15 March 1935 Ad interim
Primeminister5:	himself
Predecessor5:	Jacob Kalff
Successor5:	Otto van Lidth de Jeude
Office6:	Minister of Economic Affairs
Term Start6:	25 July 1939
Term End6:	10 August 1939
Primeminister6:	himself
Predecessor6:	Max Steenberghe
Successor6:	Max Steenberghe
Term Start7:	17 April 1934
Term End7:	25 June 1934 Ad interim
Primeminister7:	himself
Predecessor7:	Timotheus Verschuur
Successor7:	Max Steenberghe
Office8:	Minister of Colonial Affairs
Term Start8:	26 May 1933
Term End8:	24 June 1937
Primeminister8:	himself
Predecessor8:	Simon de Graaff
Successor8:	Charles Welter
Term Start9:	4 August 1925
Term End9:	1 October 1925 Ad interim
Primeminister9:	himself
Predecessor9:	Simon de Graaff
Successor9:	Charles Welter
Office10:	Minister of Finance
Term Start10:	19 May 1939
Term End10:	25 July 1939 Ad interim
Primeminister10:	himself
Successor10:	Christiaan Bodenhausen
Term Start11:	11 August 1923
Term End11:	8 March 1926
Primeminister11:	Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck (1923–1925) Hendrikus Colijn (1925–1926)
Predecessor11:	Dirk Jan de Geer
Successor11:	Dirk Jan de Geer
Term Start12:	31 March 1920
Term End12:	18 September 1944
Predecessor12:	Abraham Kuyper
Successor12:	Jan Schouten
Term Start13:	6 September 1939
Term End13:	18 September 1944
Leader13:	himself
Predecessor13:	Jan Schouten
Successor13:	Jan Schouten (1945)
Term Start14:	31 March 1920
Term End14:	26 May 1933
Leader14:	himself
Predecessor14:	Abraham Kuyper
Successor14:	Jan Schouten
Office15:	Minister of the Navy
Term Start15:	14 May 1912
Term End15:	29 August 1913
Primeminister15:	Theo Heemskerk
Predecessor15:	Jan Wentholt
Successor15:	Jean Jacques Rambonnet
Office16:	Minister of War
Term Start16:	4 January 1911
Term End16:	29 August 1913
Primeminister16:	Theo Heemskerk
Predecessor16:	Wouter Cool
Successor16:	Nicolaas Bosboom
Module:	Embed: yes Office: Parliamentary leader in the Senate Term Start: 23 September 1926 Term End: 17 September 1929 Predecessor: Anne Anema Successor: Anne Anema Parliamentarygroup: Anti-Revolutionary Party Office1: Member of the Senate Term Start1: 31 October 1939 Term End1: 18 September 1944 Term Start2: 23 September 1926 Term End2: 21 August 1929 Term Start3: 15 September 1914 Term End3: 10 November 1920 Parliamentarygroup3: Anti-Revolutionary Party Office4: Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives Term Start4: 17 September 1929 Term End4: 23 May 1933 Predecessor4: Theo Heemskerk Successor4: Jan Schouten Term Start5: 11 July 1922 Term End5: 11 August 1923 Predecessor5: Victor Henri Rutgers Successor5: Victor Henri Rutgers Parliamentarygroup5: Anti-Revolutionary Party Office6: Member of the House of Representatives Term Start6: 8 June 1937 Term End6: 25 June 1937 Term Start7: 17 September 1929 Term End7: 26 May 1933 Term Start8: 25 July 1922 Term End8: 15 August 1923 Term Start9: 9 November 1909 Term End9: 4 January 1911 Parliamentarygroup9: Anti-Revolutionary Party
Module2:	Embed: yes Birth Date: 22 June 1869 Birth Place: Burgerveen, Netherlands Death Place: Ilmenau, Germany Death Cause: Heart failure Party: Anti-Revolutionary Party 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: Signature Colijn.jpg Allegiance: Netherlands Branch: Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Serviceyears: 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)^[1] 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.^[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 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.^[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. 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.^[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.

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)^[8] 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.^{[9] [10]}

Decorations

Honours
Ribbon bar	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

External links

Official

• Dr. H. (Hendrik) Colijn Parlement & Politiek
• Dr. H. Colijn (ARP) Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal

Notes and References

1. Web site: Helena Groenenberg (1867-1947) » Stamboom De Kanter » Genealogie Online . C.N. . Cardinaal . Genealogie Online.
2. Web site: Introduction to the History of the Dutch East Indies Aad 'Arcengel' Engelfriet . Aad . Engelfriet . home.iae.nl . 7 December 2006 . 7 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230307064313/http://home.iae.nl/users/arcengel/NedIndie/introengels.htm . dead .
3. News: Defense in two spheres - Holland's New Cabinet . The Age . 25 May 1939 . 8 . . 13 May 2017.
4. Web site: Middelburgsche Courant - 6 juni 1910 - pagina 7 . Krantenbank Zeeland. 6 June 1910 .
5. '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 . Mari . Smits.
6. Web site: Dr. H. Colijn . . 1 December 2023 . Dutch.
7. Vaticaan moet plaats kennen; by Lousewies van der Laan, Elly Plooij-van Gorsel and Joke Swiebel, Trouw, 18 November 2000
8. http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=urn:gvn:EVDO02:NIOD05_0817&role=pdf Op de grens van twee werelden
9. Web site: Dr. H. (Hendrik) Colijn. www.parlement.com.
10. http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/oralhistory/WWII_/colijn_hendrik.htm Oral History Hendrik "Henk" Colijn