Anthoon Johan Koejemans

Anthoon Johan Koejemans (born April 20, 1903 in Rotterdam , † June 14, 1982 in Trier ) was a Dutch journalist , writer and politician .

Live and act

Koejemans was from 1945 to 1948 a member of the leadership of the Communist Party of the Netherlands , a member of the First Chamber (consisting of representatives of the twelve Dutch provincial parliaments) and a member of the Provinciale Staten of North Holland . His father was a postal worker and a member of a Mennonite congregation .

Koejemans attended the three-year “Hoger Burgerlijke School” (comparable to a grammar school) in Rotterdam and was editor of the communist newspaper Het Volksdagblad before 1940 and from 1943 he was editor of the illegal resistance edition of De Waarheid (The Truth). During the war Koejemans also wrote various brochures such as “After Liberation” (late August 1943), “The Day of Retribution” (spring 1944) and in spring 1944 “Dutch Rebirth. Step backwards or progress? ”. In cooperation with those who made preparations for the establishment of a unified trade union after the end of the war, he wrote “De Communisten en de strijd om de vrijheid” (The Communists and the Struggle for Freedom). In November 1944 and early 1945 he wrote the basic program of the EVC (Headquarters of the Unified Trade Union Confederation).

After the liberation from National Socialism , he became editor-in-chief of the then popular daily De Waarheid . He wanted to make this newspaper available to a wider audience and soon came into conflict with party leader Paul de Groot , who fired him. Koejemans also had to give up his membership in the Eerste Kamer and the Provinciale Staten.

From 1920 to 1935 he was a member of what was then the Communist Partij Holland (Communist Party of Holland) and from 1935 until he left in 1955 a member of the Communist Partij Nederland (Communist Party of the Netherlands).

In 1958 Koejemans became a member of the Mennonite Congregation of Amsterdam . He still wrote various books, as he did before 1940, in order to supplement his meager earnings at Het Volksdagblad (Volkstageblatt).

In the 1970s he became a member of the Christian Peace Conference , at the IV and V All-Christian Peace Conventions in Prague in 1971 and 1978, respectively . In 1978 he was elected to their committee to continue the work.

Career in brief

• Youngest employee in the oil trade (1918–1919)
• Apprentice and office worker at the railway in Zutphen (from 1919)
• Civil servant at the railway in Rotterdam (1925)
• Office help at a small export office (1925–1928)
• Paid member of the editorial board of the party newspaper Het Volksdagblad (Das Volkstageblatt) of the Communist Party of Holland in Amsterdam (April 19 - May 15, 1940)
• From 1940 owner of a bookshop and library in Amsterdam
• Editor of the underground newspaper De Waarheid (The Truth) (1943)
• Chief Editor of the Communist Party Journal De Waarheid (May 1945 - January 10, 1948)
• Member of the First Chamber of the Staten Generaal (Federal Council) (from November 20, 1945 - February 24, 1948)
• Provincial Member of the Provinciale Staten Noord-Holland (May 1946 - January 1948)
• Publishing employee of the CPN (Communist Party of the Netherlands) Pegasus in Amsterdam (1948 until dismissal in 1953)
• From 1953 owner of the Herman Gorter reading library in the Rijnstraat in Amsterdam

Political functions

• Member of the CPH (Communist Party of Holland) (1920 to 1921)
• Secretary of the Department of CPH Rotterdam (1926 to 1929)
• Member of the newspaper commission of the links department in the resistance during the German occupation
• Member of the Politburo of the CPN (Communist Party of the Netherlands) from June 1945.
• Member of the party executive committee of the CPN (KPN), from 1944 to December 1947.
• Member of the party executive committee of the CPN (KPN) department in Amsterdam from 1948 to 1952.

Secondary functions

• Board member of the Dutch Journalists' Circle (1945 to 1948)
• Member of the Christian Peace Conference (CFK)
• Member of the Church Council of the Mennonite Congregation Amsterdam
• Member of the peace group of the Mennonite Congregation Amsterdam
• Member of the historical circle of the Mennonite Congregation Amsterdam
• Final editor In dit Amsterdam (In this Amsterdam), the monthly newspaper of the United Mennonite Congregations Amsterdam

Works

• Van "yes" dead "amen". Autobiography. 1961.
• Jezus in Magnitogorsk: een bijdrage tot de dialogue tussen bijbels geloof en communisme. 1964.
• Mennist. strange ?! 1965.
• David Wijnkoop. Een mens in de strijd voor het socialisme. 1967.
• God in Berlijn. Ontmoetingen met christenen, joden en communisten in de Duitse Democratische Republiek. 1973.
• Over de Amerikaanse kultuur: opstellen en reportages (1906–1932). 1980.

literature

• M. Welcker: Koejemans, Anthoon Johan. In: Biographical Dictionary of Socialism and the Labor Movement. Part IV, 107.
• AA de Jonge: Koejemans, Anthoon Johan (1903-1982). In: Biographical Dictionary of the Netherlands. Part III, 340.

Web links

• Literature by and about Anthoon Johan Koejemans in the WorldCat bibliographic database