Geert Ruygers

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Geert Ruygers

Gerardus Johannes Nicolaas Maria (Geert) Ruygers (born August 21, 1911 in Rotterdam , †  February 18, 1970 in The Hague ) was a Dutch politician ( PvdA ) and journalist. During the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II , he was among other things editor-in-chief of the party newspaper of the political collection movement Nederlandsche Unie . After the Second World War he was a founding member of the PvdA and from then on was deputy chairman of the party for more than 20 years as well as being a member of the Second Chamber of the States General .

Life

Before the Second World War, Ruygers worked as a Dutch teacher in a grammar school in Roosendaal from 1937 . Following the occupation of the Netherlands by Germany in May 1940, he joined the Nederlandsche Unie , the largest political organization in Dutch history, founded two months later . This campaigned for a united and independent Netherlands and positioned itself against the Dutch National Socialists NSB . Ruygers became the editor-in-chief of the weekly party newspaper Unie , which in March 1941 had a circulation of 400,000 copies. At first he belonged to the authoritarian wing of the Nederlandsche Unie , but under the impression of the occupiers' increasingly tough pace, he permanently changed his attitude and turned to parliamentary democracy. After the organization was banned in December 1941 due to its refusal to support the German attack on the Soviet Union , Ruygers became editor of the Je Maintiendrai underground newspaper and remained so until 1946, when it was included in the Leeuwarder Courant .

In February of that year Ruygers was a founding member of the PvdA, the successor party of the SDAP, and subsequently became its vice-chairman that same month, a position he held until November 1967. Five months later he was also elected as a member of the Second Chamber of the States General and remained there until his death in February 1970. During his parliamentary term, Ruygers campaigned for the European unification process and dealt with peace and security issues. In addition to his function as long-time spokesman for the PvdA parliamentary group for foreign policy, development cooperation was a later focus of Ruyger's work, from September 1967 until his death he was chairman of the parliamentary commission for this area. In addition, Ruygers was also a leading member of the Catholic working group within the PvdA, from 1946 to 1964 he was the editor-in-chief of the working group's magazine, De Katholiek in de Partij van de Arbeid . Since March 1961 he was also a board member of the PvdA's own training institute.

In addition to his party political functions, Ruygers was also a board member of Pax Christi and Justitia et Pax .

Ruygers had been married since 1941, the marriage remained childless.

Works

  • Partijvorming, maar op welke grondslag? , 1945
  • Socialisme, vroeger en nu , Tjeenk Willink, Haarlem 1945

Honors

  • Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion (1958)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jan van de Plasse: Kroniek van de Nederlandse dagblad- en opiniepers / seed gesteld by Jan van de Plasse. Red.Wim Verbei, Otto Cramwinckel Uitgever, Amsterdam 2005, ISBN 90-75727-77-1 , p. 290

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ruygers, Geert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ruygers, Gerardus Johannes Nicolaas Maria (full name); Ruygers, Geert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch politician (PvdA) and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH August 21, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Rotterdam , Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH 18th February 1970
Place of death The Hague , Netherlands