August Vanistendael

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August Vanistendael (born January 9, 1917 in Birtley , Northumberland , England ; † September 8, 2003 in Leuven , Flemish Brabant , Belgium ) was a Belgian poet and union official .

biography

Promotion to general secretary of the IBCG

After attending secondary schools in Hechtel and Sint-Truiden , he became an employee of the BAC, the bank of the General Christian Workers' Association (ACW). In 1938 he moved to the General Christian Union (ACW), where he was secretary in the headquarters for the Horeca department , before he became secretary of the umbrella organization for tourism in 1941 . In 1944 he was appointed secretary of the Landelijke Bediendencentrale , today's largest trade union headquarters LBC-NVK.

After the Second World War he began his career at the International Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (IBCG) and in 1947 became its Deputy General Secretary. After he became general secretary of the IBCG in 1952, the IBCG expanded its content so that, after the Saigon Congress in 1959 , unions influenced by other religions could also join the IBCG. In the period that followed, numerous unions from newly founded states in South America , Africa and Asia joined. He himself traveled to these countries and promoted the establishment of educational institutes to train the trade union officials there. This also gave rise to debates about the development and implementation of development aid in these countries. In 1968 the IBCG changed its name to the World Federation of Workers in order to document its religious neutrality by name.

Vanistendael enjoyed a great reputation worldwide and was not only personal advisor to the German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer , the Archbishop of Cologne Joseph Cardinal Frings and Johannes Schauff , but also one of six lay auditors during the Second Vatican Council .

1961 was a founding chairman of the organization Cooperation and Solidarity , which awarded scholarships to students from developing countries , and of Pro Mundi Vita , a study and information center for development aid. Between 1963 and 1976 he was also a lecturer at the Institute for Studies in Developing Countries at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven . In 1964 he was one of the speakers at a congress of the International Catholic Student Organization Pax Romana ICMICA .

In 1967 he was appointed secretary of the Coopération Internationale pour le Développement Socio-Economique (CIDSE), a Catholic network of non-governmental organizations in development aid, which was founded in 1981 and was renamed Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité . He was also chairman of the Belgian Caritas between 1975 and his retirement in 1983 . Even after his retirement, he remained active in numerous organizations such as Pax Christi .

Writing activity

August Vanistendael was also active as a writer and edited three anthologies of his poems :

  • Schakel the target (1944)
  • Ik zal kort zijn (1980)
  • Ik ben onder Gods adem (1996)

family

His son Geert van Istendael is also a poet, essayist and journalist , while his son Frans Vanistendael is a professor of tax law at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and between 1986 and 1987 was also the royal commissioner for tax reforms.

Honors

In 1982 Vanistendael became an honorary member of the Unitas Association. For his services he was honored on December 2, 1983 by King Baudouin I with the honorary title of Minister of State . In addition, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in 1988.

estate

His extensive archive of speeches, letters and documents is located in the Documentatie- en Onderzoekscentrum voor Religie, Cultuur en Samenleving (KADOC) of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter van Dam: Religion and civil society (=  civil society processes of understanding from the 19th century to the present . Volume 2 ). Waxmann Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8309-7315-7 , ISSN  1868-3002 , p. 189 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ↑ Dieter Marc Schneider: Johannes Schauff, 1902–1990: Migration and "Stabilitas" in the age of totalitarianism (=  studies on contemporary history . Volume 61 ). Oldenbourg R. Verlag GmbH, 2001, ISBN 3-486-56558-3 , p. 139 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ↑ Dieter Marc Schneider: Johannes Schauff, 1902–1990: Migration and "Stabilitas" in the age of totalitarianism (=  studies on contemporary history . Volume 61 ). Oldenbourg R. Verlag GmbH, 2001, ISBN 3-486-56558-3 , p. 168, 170 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  4. ↑ Pax Romana (Milestones) ( Memento from September 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Wolfgang Burr (ed.): Unitas manual . tape 5 . Verlag Franz Schmitt, Siegburg 2005, ISBN 3-87710-502-5 , p. 272 .
  6. ↑ Finding aid : Plaatsingslijst van het Archief August Vanistendael (PDF; 251 kB).
personal data
SURNAME Vanistendael, August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 9, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Birtley , Northumberland , England
DATE OF DEATH September 8, 2003
Place of death Leuven , Flemish Brabant , Belgium