Hugo Visscher

Hugo Visscher

Hugo Visscher (born October 12, 1864 in Zwolle , † May 17, 1947 in Alkmaar ) was a Dutch church historian, Reformed theologian and politician.

Life

Hugo was the son of the carpenter Derk Jan Visscher (born January 29, 1826 in Zwolle; † January 3, 1903 ibid) and his wife Antonia Bolmeijer (born August 19, 1833 in Zwolle; † November 23, 1910 ibid). Raised in a liberal Protestant environment, he completed elementary school in his hometown and then began an apprenticeship as a blacksmith at the Dutch railways. By taking private lessons from a pastor, he decided in 1881 to expand his education at the grammar school in his place of origin. On October 14, 1886, Visscher matriculated at the University of Leiden to study theology. During that time he was inspired by the theology professor Johannes Gerhardus Rijk Acquoy (born January 3, 1829 in Amsterdam, † December 15, 1896 in Leiden) for the orthodox Reformed Calvinism. After completing his theological exam in 1890, he became pastor of the Frisian Reformed Congregation in Sintjohannesga in 1891. On October 5, 1854 he received his doctorate under Acquoy in Leiden with the work of Guilielmus Amesius. Zijn leven en werken (German: William Ames . His life and work ) to doctorate in theology. In 1894 he moved to Zegveld as pastor , in 1896 as pastor to Delft and in 1901 as pastor to Ouderkerk aan den IJssel .

In 1896 he founded the journal Gereformeerd Weekblad with his fellow student Jan Daniel de Lint van Wijngaarden (1862–1939) . On October 30, 1903 he became professor of church history, theological ethics and philosophy at the University of Utrecht , which task he began on November 15, 1904 with the inaugural speech De oorsprong der religie (German: The origin of religion ). During that time a number of papers appeared in the journals and journals of the day. In 1906 he became a co-founder of the Reformed Federation of the Evangelical Church of the Netherlands and in the academy year 1919/20 he also took part in the organizational tasks of the Utrecht University as rector of the Alma Mater . On October 1, 1931, he retired from his Utrecht professorship. He then received a special professorship for Reformed life and worldview in Utrecht and in 1933 a special professorship in the same subject at the University of Leiden, which the latter task he did on March 17, 1933 with the speech Het Calvinisme en de tolerantie-politiek van Prins Willem van Oranje (German: Calvinism and the policy of tolerance of Prince Willem of Orange ) began. In 1937 he resigned these professorships and was made Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion for his university services .

Visscher was also active politically. He was a member of the Anti-Revolutionaire Partij , for which he worked from 1905 to 1916 in the party's central committee and from 1922 as a member of the second chamber of the States General . During that time he was committed to the death penalty, compulsory vaccination, Sunday rest, blasphemy and education. In the 1930s, Visscher alienated himself from the ARP and resigned from his political offices. Instead, he began in the splinter party Christelijk Nationale Actie (CNA), for which he worked as party chairman, to develop a new effect. After this party had not made it into the Dutch lower house in the Dutch parliamentary elections in 1937, he turned more and more to the ideas of National Socialism. Although he rejected the religious character of the ideology, he felt sympathy for Hitler. After the German occupation of the Netherlands in 1940, he joined the Dutch Cultural Council in 1941 and from 1943 was Anton Mussert's advisor on school and church matters. After the liberation of the Netherlands, Visscher was arrested in December 1944 for working with the Germans. In October 1945 he was released because of a court ruling in Arnhem and because of his old age. So he moved to live with his son in Alkmaar, where he eventually died.

family

Visscher married on March 3, 1891 in Heino Gerridina Lindeboom (* around 1863 in Heino; † October 22, 1945 in Alkmaar), the daughter of Hermannus Lindeboom (* around 1816/17 in Heino; † November 30, 1903 ibid) and Frederika Graveman (* around 1820/21 in Heino; † June 12, 1895 in Heinoo). There were two daughters and one son from the marriage. From the children we know:

• Frederika Antonia I Visscher (born January 20, 1892 in Schoterland, † May 12, 1898 in Delft)
• Dirk Johan Visscher (born June 3, 1896 in Delft; † August 14, 1980 in Alkmaar) married. September 27, 1927 in Dirksland with Jacomijntje Warnaer (born January 21, 1901 in Dirksland; † May 4, 1951 in Alkmaar)
• Frederika Antonia II Visscher (born October 2, 1898 in Delft; † November 13, 1981 in Alkmaar) m. April 7, 1926 in Oosterbeek with Jan Blankers 't Hooft (* August 7, 1884 in' s-Hertogenbosch; † December 3, 1953 in Alkmaar)

Works (selection)

• Guilielmus Amesius. Zijn leven en work. Haarlem, 1894
• Stem uit de wolk der doigen. Utrecht, 1905-1907, 3rd vol
• Religie en gemeenschap bij natuurvolken I. Utrecht, 1907; German translated: Religion and social life among primitive peoples. Bonn, 1911, 2nd vol.
• After a state. A word about aanleiding van "Unfortunately en suffering in the anti-revolutionaire partij" by mr. A. Anema, dr. H. Bavinck, Mr. PA Diepenhorst, mr. Th. Heemskerk en mr. S. de Vries Cz. Maassluis, 1916
• Het Paradijsprobleem. Zwolle, 1927
• Het Calvinisme en de tolerantie-politiek van Prins Willem van Oranje. Zeist, 1933
• Ondergang van de Republiek of the Vereenigde Nederlanden. Amsterdam, 1943

literature

• W. Slagter: Visscher, Hugo (1864-1947) . In: Biographical Woordenboek van Nederland. The Hague, 1994, vol. 4,
• A. de Groot: VISSCHER, HUGO . In: Biografisch Lexicon voor de Geschiedenis van het Nederlands Protestantisme. Kok, Kampen, 1988, Vol. 3, p. 373

Web links

• Visscher in the Parliamentary Documentation Center of the University of Leiden
• Visscher in the Catalogus Professorum Academiae Rheno-Traiectinae
• Visscher in the professorial catalog of the University of Leiden