Frits van Tuyll van Serooskerken

Frits Baron van Tuyll van Serooskerken

The Van Tuyll monument by the sculptor Gra Rueb in front of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam

Frederik Willem Christiaan Hendrik "Frits" Baron van Tuyll van Serooskerken (born March 27, 1851 in Amsterdam , † February 13, 1924 in The Hague ) was a Dutch sports official . He was the first chairman of the Dutch NOK .

biography

Origin and family

Frits van Tuyll van Serooskerken came from a very wealthy, influential family of "old" aristocracy who had close ties to the Dutch royal family . His parents were Ernest Louis Baron van Tuyll van Serooskerken, Heer van Vleuten, (1801–1860) and Wilhelmine Philippine Willink (1810–1968). He was the youngest of their eight children; his oldest sister was nearly 20 years older than him. In the summer the family lived in a representative house on the Herengracht in Amsterdam , in the summer on the Velserbeek country estate , which Wilhelmine Willink had inherited from her father. The household included at least ten servants. Frits van Tuyll was looked after by governesses from Switzerland and France . When he was nine years old, his father died; He lost his mother when he was 17.

In 1874 van Tuyll married Maria Boreel (1850-1919), a daughter of the Dutch politician and minister Willem Boreel van Hogelanden. The couple had four children. In 1881 he was appointed chamberlain to King Wilhelm III. appointed and later by Queen Wilhelmina . He had no political ambitions, but initially led the carefree life of a member of the upper class. He took care of his family and his property and practiced "befitting" sports such as equestrian sports , golf , shooting and sailing . He also traveled to Monte Carlo to there Roulette to play for a system that his brother Jacob van Boreel Hogelanden had decided.

During the First World War , Frits van Tuyll was involved in the interests of people who had fled to the Netherlands, later as chairman of a tourist association that still exists today as the VVV , and also for Dutch tourism .

Engagement in sport

Van Tuyll wrote the first article in 1882 in the magazine Nederlandsche Sport , which he co-founded , in which he asked: “Sport! What is sport? ”. In 1898 the now 47-year-old van Tuyll, who spoke several languages, became the first Dutch member of the IOC , an "international network of national elites". He was also chairman of the national Jadgvereinigung Nimrod and from 1911 of the Nederlandsche Bond voor Lichamelijke Opvoeding and other sports associations. He believed in sport as an important national tool: sport should make Dutch youth strong and skillful in order to cope with their later life. This is particularly important in the 20th century - the "century of rapid change". Before the Nationaal Congres vor de Weerkracht (National Congress for Defense ) he said in 1919: “We must have a physically well-developed race if we as a nation can remain on a par with other nations in the great industrial competition that must undoubtedly follow a general peace want."

Frits van Tuyll tried to organize the participation of Dutch athletes in the 1904 Summer Olympics , which were originally to be held in Chicago . To this end, a meeting was scheduled in March 1902 at the Amsterdam Hotel Krasnapolsky , where he gave a speech. To convince the associations to participate, he announced that a warship would transport the participants and that there and return travel would be free. However, after the IOC awarded the games to St. Louis in late 1903 and all commitments were withdrawn, the Netherlands did not send a team there. In 1906 he was the representative of the Netherlands at the Olympic Intermediate Games in Athens .

In May 1907, van Tuyll organized a meeting of the IOC in The Hague, the first in the Netherlands, under the auspices of Prince Consort Prince Henrik . In the same year a provisional Dutch NOK was established, with van Tuyll as chairman. The main task of this committee was to raise money for sending athletes to the 1908 Olympic Games in London to collect. In fact, 113 Dutch people were able to start there. In 1912 the NOK was officially founded, also in Krasnapolsky .

Since the Olympic Games planned in Berlin in 1916 were canceled because of the First World War , van Tuyll organized national "Olympic Games" in September of the same year. This sporting event was a success and paved the way for the Netherlands to bid for the 1928 Olympics . Amsterdam was already being discussed for the 1920 Games , but van Tyull withdrew the application in favor of the “war-torn” Belgians. The following year the decision was made for the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.

Frits van Tuyll, who had run the application, did not live to see the games because he died of pneumonia in February 1924 at the age of 72. He was buried in the Westerveld cemetery in Driehuis . Dutch sports pioneer Pim Mulier wrote the obituary for his colleague in the newspaper Het Vaderland . He referred to van Tyull as the (unofficial) "Sports Minister" of the Netherlands. It is thanks to him that the government is increasingly concerned with sporting matters.

Honors

Frits van Tuyll van Serooskerken was honored with numerous orders and decorations, including foreign ones, such as the Order of the Dutch Lion , the Order of Orange-Nassau and the Prussian Order of the Crown .

Before the start of the Olympic Games in Amsterdam, the bronze statue Van Tuyll monument in honor of the late Frits van Tuyll van Serooskerken was unveiled by Prince Henrik on May 17, 1928 in front of the Olympic Stadium . In addition, a square and a street near the stadium were named after him.

The Van Tuyll monument was created by the Dutch sculptor Gra Rueb . It shows an athlete delivering the “ Olympic salute ” by raising his right arm. The listed statue has been particularly controversial since 1945, as the Hitler salute is modeled on the Olympic salute. A plaque on the memorial expressly indicates that it was created in 1928 and that at that time there was no connection to the Hitler salute.

literature

• Daniëk Rewijk: Sport voor iedereen. FWCH Baron van Tuyll van Serooskerken en the Nederlandse sportwereld . In: Virtus. Jaarboek voor Adelsgeschiedenis . tape 14 . University of Groningen Press, 2007, ISSN  1380-6130 , p. 141-156 .

Web links

Commons : Frits van Tuyll van Serooskerken  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rewijk, Sport voor iedereen , p. 144.
2. ↑ De Huizen van Oranje en Nassau - Stambomen Prins Frederik Hendrik V. In: hethuisvanoranje.nl. October 22, 1900. Retrieved July 26, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Rewijk, Sport voor iedereen , p. 143.
4. ↑ De Huizen van Oranje en Nassau - Stambomen Prins Frederik Hendrik VI. In: hethuisvanoranje.nl. September 20, 1901, Retrieved July 26, 2019 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Het Vaderland , February 13, 1924, evening edition, p. 3.
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} NOC * NSF Sporterfgoed. In: nocnsf.nl. September 11, 1912, accessed July 26, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Rewijk, Sport voor iedereen , p. 145.
8. ↑ Rewijk, Sport voor iedereen , p. 146.
9. ↑ Olympic ideals: méér dan sport alleen. In: ru.nl. Retrieved July 26, 2019 . 
10. ↑ Rewijk, Sport voor iedereen , p. 147.
11. ^ Bill Mallon, Anthony Th. Bijkerk: The 1920 Olympic Games. ISBN 978-0-786-44070-2 , p. 3 ( limited preview in Google book search).
12. ^ Van Tuyll monument. In: grarueb.nl. Retrieved July 26, 2019 . 
13. ^ Olympic Stadium. In: nrc.nl. Retrieved July 26, 2019 (Dutch).