Eelco van Kleffens

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Eelco van Kleffens, 1945

Eelco Nicolaas van Kleffens (born November 17, 1894 in Heerenveen ; † June 17, 1983 in Almocageme near Sintra , Portugal ) was the (non-party) Foreign Minister of the Netherlands from 1939 to 1946.

Kleffens worked for the League of Nations and joined the Dutch Foreign Service in 1922. He was appointed Foreign Minister in August 1939 and kept this post even after the flight to Great Britain , which had become necessary when the German Wehrmacht occupied the Netherlands in May 1940 .

During his time as Foreign Minister he supported the Allies and established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and the Vatican. He campaigned for a planned annexation of large German areas and would have accepted a mass expulsion of Germans.

After the war he became Minister without Portfolio in 1946 until he was appointed Dutch Ambassador to the USA in 1947 . At the same time he was the representative of the Netherlands at the United Nations and President of the 9th UN General Assembly (1954/1955). In 1950 he was given the honorary position of Minister of State . The American Society for International Law made him an honorary member in 1956. He later took on several ambassadorial posts in Portugal (until 1956), with NATO and the OECD (until 1958) and with the ECSC (until 1967).

After leaving the service van Kleffens moved to Portugal, where he eventually died. He was married to Margaret Helen Horstmann since 1935.

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personal data
SURNAME Kleffens, Eelco van
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kleffens, Eelco Nicolaas van (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch politician (independent), Foreign Minister
DATE OF BIRTH November 17, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Heerenveen
DATE OF DEATH June 17, 1983
Place of death Almocageme near Sintra , Portugal