Folkert Posthuma

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Folkert Posthuma (1930)
The Cort van der Linden - Posthuma cabinet is at the far left
Plate in memory of the Aardappeloproer in 1917, on whom Posthuma is mocked

Folkert Evert Posthuma (born May 28, 1874 in Leeuwarden , † June 3, 1943 in Vorden ) was a Dutch politician and association official. During the occupation of the Netherlands by the Germans, he was murdered in his home by a resistance fighter .

biography

Training and activities

Folkert Posthuma was the son of Evert Posthuma, director of the Van Gend & Loos haulage company, and of Janna Johanna Sterkenburg. From 1890 to 1893 he attended the agricultural school in Wageningen and graduated as a teacher in 1896. He then studied a few semesters at the Agricultural Institute of the University of Halle . In 1898 he became secretary of the Association of cooperative dairies in Friesland ( Bond van Cooperative Zuivelfabrieken ), the following year, dairy consultant in Drenthe . In 1899 he co-founded the Federatieve Nederlandsche Zuivelbond (FNZ) and became its honorary managing director. From 1904 to 1905 he also worked as a state milk advisor in North Brabant . His career advancement allowed him to get married; he and his wife Aaltje van den Steen had two daughters. In 1905, Posthuma moved from Assen to The Hague to head the FNZ as a paid managing director. "He proved to be an excellent advocate for the interests of dairy farmers and was a convincing speaker at meetings of agricultural organizations."

In November 1914, the "militant Frisian" Posthuma became Minister for Agriculture, Industry and Trade in the Cabinet-Cort van der Linden . At that time he was a member of the Liberale Unie . As Minister of Agriculture he was responsible for the necessary but thankless "Herculean task" of distributing and rationing food, which incurred the anger of the population and was the target of ridicule songs and caricatures. There was a first “uproar” when he took office when he issued the ordinance to only produce brown instead of white bread, whereupon sacks of letters of complaint arrived at the ministry. In June / July 1917 the "Aardappeloproer" ("Potato Uprising") took place, in which the Amsterdamers protested against the rationing of potatoes. Nine people were killed and over 100 injured when soldiers opened fire on a crowd.

Posthuma also often clashed on trade issues with his ministerial colleague Willem Treub , who was pro-British and restricted trade with Germany, while Posthuma was pro-German and did not want to hinder agricultural trade with the Germans. Despite these constant disputes on the matter, Treub praised Posthuma in 1931 in his memoirs as "integrity". In September 1918, Posthuma resigned as minister after Parliament passed a law change that he considered "unacceptable". In the same year he received an honorary doctorate from his former school in Wageningen after it had received the status of a university.

After his resignation as minister, Posthuma became president of the cooperative insurance company Centraal Beheer and remained so until his retirement in 1939. He also held numerous functions in various agricultural associations, at times there were 24 offices at the same time. However, this did not satisfy his ambition. Presumably also out of frustration with his own, for him unsatisfactory professional situation, he criticized the government's policy more and more sharply and, although originally liberal, turned increasingly to National Socialism . He did not join the National Socialist movement of the Netherlands NSB because, as a Mennonite , he was critical of some points in their party program.

When the chairman of the NSB, Anton Mussert , appointed him to his shadow cabinet in 1943 , Posthuma said yes, also because after years his hopes for an influential office finally seemed to be fulfilled. At that time Mussert had the (futile) expectation of taking power in the Netherlands from Reich Commissioner Arthur Seyß-Inquart . Since the beginning of the occupation in 1940, Posthuma had been managing agricultural issues in various commissions, trying to keep the influence of the Germans as small as possible. He prevented the German authorities from clearing the university library in Wageningen. He represented the interests of the Insurance Association Brandwaarborg Onderlingen ( mutual insurance association ) vis-à- vis Mussert's competitor and governor of the Dutch national bank Rost van Tonningen . Van Tonningen wanted to centralize insurance and transfer the funds to a German company. A few days before his murder, Posthuma sent a warning letter to all those affected. On the other hand, he tried, albeit in vain, to persuade the Dutch agricultural associations to join the NSB's Boerenfront .

The murder

Folkert Posthuma lived in one half of Villa De Viersprong in Vorden , which he used as a holiday home. He had been advised several times to be protected by bodyguards, which he refused. On the evening of June 3, 1943, he was sitting with his wife in the villa's winter garden. Jan Vereleration , a member of the communist resistance group CS-6 , came by bike and first cut the telephone line leading to the house. Then he crept into the villa, where he faced Posthuma and shot him in the chest. When Posthuma turned to get his phone, Ver acceler pulled the trigger a second time; that second shot in the back was fatal. The shooter fled by bike and threw away the gun on the way.

After the attack, hundreds of police officers searched the farms in the area for two days. The people who went into hiding on these farms were able to escape in time. Mussert also sent his bodyguards to Vorden, but their search was also unsuccessful.

Since the murdered Posthuma was neither German nor held a high post from the perspective of the Germans, the investigations by the authorities were soon stopped and there were no reprisals. It remained unclear why, of all people, the “limitlessly naive” Posthuma was put on the resistance list, even though it was in line with the CS-6's declared aim to liquidate prominent Dutchmen who worked with the Germans. The underground newspaper Het Parool wrote: “This arch villain, who quit his oath of allegiance to the queen for a hefty salary, has received his reward. May others share his lot soon! "

NSB leader Anton Mussert had a wreath sent to the widow, which she did not appreciate. She also had the coffin carried by neighbors, not NSB members, at the funeral at the Ruurlo cemetery . A short time later, Aaltje Posthuma moved back to her primary residence in The Hague, and SS men were housed in the villa in Vorden .

Most of the members of Group CS-6 were arrested and executed during 1943. Jan Ver acceler, who was also involved in the fatal assassination attempt on Lieutenant General Hendrik Seyffardt , was arrested and tortured on November 4, 1943. On January 7, 1945 he was executed on the Waalsdorpervlakte .

Publications

  • De FNZ from 20 October 1900 to 1 May 1909 . 's-Gravenhage 1909.
  • With Gerhard Polak: Nieuw-Nederlandsche handelsmoraal . Amsterdam 1917.
  • De Nijverheidsraad: speech, uitgesproken door den voorzitter van de Nijverheidsraad, FE Posthuma at the occasion of the honderdste vergadering van dien Raad op 24 September 1925 te 's-Gravenhage . 1925.
  • Food Supply and Agriculture . 1925 (English).
  • The organization van den melkveehoudenden boer en de fabriekmatige zuivelbereiding . 's-Gravenhage 1941.
  • Reichskommissar for the occupied Dutch territories (ed.): The Netherlands feed itself . The Hague 1941.

Web links

Commons : Folkert Posthuma  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g J.MG van der Poel: Posthuma, Folkert Evert (1874-1943). In: Biographical Woordenboek van Nederland. November 12, 2013. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b Silence: Grafsteentjes voor minister Posthuma. In: histornieuwsblad.nl. January 1, 1970, accessed November 18, 2018 (Dutch).
  3. ↑ Aardappeloproer - Amsterdam en de Eerste Wereldoorlog. In: amsterdam-eerstewereldoorlog.nl. May 22, 2014, accessed November 17, 2018 (Dutch).
  4. ^ Friso Wielenga: The Netherlands. Politics and Political Culture in the 20th Century. Waxmann Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-830-96844-3 , p. 82 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  5. ↑ a b F.E. (Folkert) Posthuma. In: parlement.com. November 19, 1914, accessed November 17, 2018 (Dutch).
  6. ↑ List of posthumous offices on socialhistory.org Retrieved November 18, 2018 (PDF file)
  7. ↑ a b c d e De moord op minister Posthuma. In: oldhengel.nl - De historie van Hengelo Gld.Retrieved on November 17, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Barbara Beuys : "Living with the enemy". Amsterdam under German occupation 1940-1945 . Hanser, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-446-23996-8 , pp. 240 .
  9. ↑ Erepeloton Waalsdorp. In: erepeloton.nl. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Posthuma, Folkert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Posthuma, Folkert Evert (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch politician and association official
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Leeuwarden
DATE OF DEATH June 3, 1943
Place of death Before