Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart

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Van Heuven Goedhart, Regent's Park London, 1944

Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart (born March 19, 1901 in Bussum , North Holland , the Netherlands ; † July 8, 1956 in Geneva , Switzerland ) was a Dutch journalist , politician and diplomat who became the first High Commissioner for Refugees in the history of the January 1, 1951 United Nations became.

Life

Studies and promotion to editor-in-chief of De Telegraaf

The son of a bookseller studied law at the University of Leiden after attending school and graduated on July 9, 1926 with a doctorate with a dissertation on the development of unemployment insurance in the Netherlands ("De ontwikkeling der werkloosheidsverzekering in Nederland").

In the meantime he had already become a journalist at De Telegraaf in 1925 and after completing his studies became a member of the editor-in-chief of this daily newspaper. Most recently he was editor-in-chief of De Telegraaf from January 1, 1930 to June 1, 1933, and despite his youth he was responsible for the editorial responsibility of a daily newspaper that was heavily dominated by the commercially responsible publisher Hak Holdert . In addition, he lacked the journalistic experience of older members of the editorial team, so that Van Heuven Goedhart had a difficult position within the newspaper. The resulting tensions between him and the editor ultimately led to his dismissal as editor-in-chief, the immediate cause of which was a report by the newspaper correspondent in Berlin , JM Goedemans, in which he shared sympathetic statements about the beginning of the period of National Socialism came. After Van Heuven Goedhart refused to take responsibility as editor-in-chief, the editors HMC Holdert and FHJ Holdert released the correspondent from his duties.

Editor-in-chief of Het Utrechtsch Nieuwsblad and opponent of fascists and communists

Immediately afterwards, Van Heuven Goedhart became editor-in-chief of the Utrecht daily newspaper Het Utrechtsch Nieuwsblad on July 1, 1933, and developed this regional newspaper over the next few years with considerable commercial and journalistic success. In addition, he was committed to the interests of journalists and the freedom of the press in the Dutch journalists' association De Journalist . He said the following about the role of journalists:

“A journalist who doesn’t have the inside scoop is a luidspreker. Hij heeft alleen as 'pick up' or as scheepsroeper nuttigheid. Niet als voorlichter, criticus of afnemer van verantwoordelijkheid. "

“A journalist who is not free inside is a loudspeaker. He only acts as a 'pick up' or as a useful mouthpiece. Not as an educator, critic or someone who takes responsibility. "

With his sharp writing style, polemics arose at this time, especially against the Nationaal-Socialistische Bewegungsing (NSB), which had its party stronghold in Utrecht. Van Heuven Goedhart's turning away from fascism made him a prominent member of the Committee for Vigilance (Comité van Waakzaamheid) , an association of Dutch intellectuals against National Socialism , and of which he later became vice-chairman. Less well known, however, was his anti-communist attitude and his role in Eenheid voor Democratie , the association of democratic parties, which successfully organized mass events in 1937 and warned of the dangers to democracy from NSB and the Communist Partij van Nederland (CPN).

On May 17, 1940, Van Heuven Goedhart was dismissed as editor-in-chief of Het Utrechtsch Nieuwsblad “because of the changed political circumstances” (the Netherlands had been occupied by Nazi Germany since May 15) . The editors of the newspaper were concerned that the editorials he wrote against the NSB and the NSDAP regime in Germany would lead to acts of revenge against the newspaper.

Resistance in World War II and Minister of Justice in the government-in-exile

Cabinet Gerbrandy II (1944)

During the invasion of the German Wehrmacht during the campaign in the west (yellow case) in May 1940, Van Heuven Goedhart earned merits as an employee of De Grebbecommissie , an organization to help war victims in the particularly contested Grebbe line , and as an advisor to JA Ringers, who as General representative organized the reconstruction in the Grebbe region around the cities of Leiden , The Hague , Rotterdam , Dordrecht and Utrecht.

In 1941 he made contact with the group surrounding the illegal daily newspaper Het Parool , which he managed together with CH de Groot from autumn 1942 to mid-1943. In this capacity, he not only wrote articles, but also organized the search for typesetters , printers and paper, as well as the distribution of the printed newspaper and fundraising.

Van Heuven Goedhart went to England on April 24, 1944 . The group of the illegal newspaper Het Parool and Vrij Nederland and the resistance movement around Jonkheer Lodewijk Hendrik Nicolaas Bosch van Rosenthal hoped that the trip would give the government of the United Kingdom a better understanding of the work of the Dutch underground movement and obtain a mandate for Jonkheer Bosch van Rosenthal to negotiate as representative of the people for the expected interim period after liberation from the German armed forces. Thanks to his great courage and intelligence, he arrived in London on June 17, 1944 via France and Spain under the alias "Colonel Blake" .

One month later, on July 12, 1944, he was appointed Minister of Justice in the second cabinet of Prime Minister Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy , which was in office from July 27, 1941 to February 23, 1945 . In this capacity he gave the initiative to found a college of shop stewards, who were named on August 2, 1944 and were supposed to keep the connection between London and the occupied Netherlands. However, he paid too little attention to the functioning of this college. However, he brought about the special policy resolution and promoted good cooperation between the military and his area of ​​responsibility within the government and was also one of the three ministers responsible for attacks on the railway company Nederlandse Spoorwegen used by the German Wehrmacht .

When Gerbrandy formed his third cabinet on February 23, 1945, Van Heuven Goedhart was no longer acceptable as minister of justice , especially for the newly appointed ministers of the Katholieke Volkspartij from the liberated south of the Netherlands, and he quickly lost importance within the government-in-exile . The exact circumstances for his non-appointment as Minister of Justice are still not known: on the one hand, intrigues of the intelligence service Bureau Inlichtingen may have played a role, on the other hand, Gerbrandy's request to end the Second World War with a homogeneous cabinet.

Editor-in-chief of Het Parool and MP

After the liberation of the Netherlands from German occupation and his return to the Netherlands, Van Heuven Goedhart initially worked as a volunteer at the Foundation for People's Recreation (Stichting Nederlands Volksherstel) in Rhenen before he was appointed editor-in-chief of Het Parool on August 27, 1945 .

In this role, however, he devoted himself more to administrative work, with the fact that he was not particularly popular with the journalists who worked there before the Second World War. There was also a mass subscription cancellation after he opposed government policies in the Dutch East Indies . Despite a certain authoritarian leadership style and the volatility in decision-making, he inspired the editor of Het Parool to create a newspaper with a face and tone of its own, as he had previously done with De Telegraaf and Het Utrechtsche Nieuwsblad .

During his time as editor-in-chief, he devoted himself to politics again and was appointed chairman of a commission to advise the government on state information on March 6, 1946. The final report of the led to the creation of the basis for a revealing, informative and investigative press and information work without propaganda .

In addition to national politics, he increasingly dealt with questions of international politics. As early as 1947 he was a member of a sub-commission of the United Nations dealing with the subject of freedom of information .

In 1948 he was elected as a candidate for the Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA) to be a member of the First Chamber of the States General and was a member of it until 1950. At the same time he was head of the Dutch delegation at a UN conference on freedom of information in 1948 and during the seventh session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council . In addition, between the third and fifth sessions of the United Nations General Assembly, he was a member and most recently Vice-Chair of the Dutch delegation.

United Nations First High Commissioner for Refugees

On December 14, 1950, the UN General Assembly named Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart as the first United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, based in Geneva .

He officially held this position from January 1, 1951 until his sudden death on July 8, 1956. He was confirmed in office in 1953, against the opposition of the Soviet Union . During his tenure, he earned a great reputation for his work and organizational talent.

During his term of office on July 28, 1951, the agreement on the legal status of refugees was signed , which came into force on April 22, 1954 as the so-called Geneva Refugee Convention.

To solve the refugee problem after the Second World War, he vehemently called for more international help in 1952: “I cannot stress enough how necessary international action is to end the misery of the people who have been in camps in Central Europe for the last six or seven years had to live ”, he said before the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

In 1954 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on behalf of the UN Refugee Commissioner . He was also awarded the Nansen Refugee Prize in 1956 alongside Dorothy D. Houghton .

After his death, Felix Schnyder became the new UN refugee commissioner.

Publications

Van Heuven Goedhart wrote numerous books about this, some of which dealt autobiographically with current political issues. His most famous works include:

  • De ontwikkeling der arbeidsbemiddeling in Nederland (co-author A. Roeterink, 1929)
  • Onrust in het land van Masaryk (1938)
  • Finland zoals ik het zag (1940)
  • De reis van "Colonel Blake" (1945)
  • Over het nieuwe Nederland (1945)
  • Overheidsvoorlichting. Report of the adviescommissie overheidsbeleid inzake voorlichting, ingesteld 6 Maart 1946 (1946)
  • Democratisering van de buitenlandse dienst. Report from mr. GJ van Heuven Goedhart, CDJ Brandt, S. Davids (1947)
  • Alarm in Praag. Redevoeringen gehouden te Amsterdam op 28 February 1948 (co-author K. Vorrink, 1948)

Background literature

  • Simon Carmiggelt, Johan Winkler: Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart. Bijdragen tot een biography (1959).
  • K. Peereboom: Het Parool. Van illegal nieuwsbrief tot modern dagbladbedrijf (1964).
  • Jeroen Corduwener: Strap om de kin! Biography of mr. dr. Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart (2011).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ De Journalist (Issue No. 546, June 1, 1938)
  2. ↑ Carla van Os' speech in Esterwegen on May 8, 2010 (ubbo-emmius-gesellschaft.de) (PDF; 100 kB)
  3. ^ Government of The Netherlands (rulers.org)
  4. ↑ UN (rulers.org)
  5. ↑ Former refugee commissioners (homepage of the UNHCR) ( Memento of the original from September 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.unhcr.de
  6. ↑ DEUTSCHLANDFUNK: The Voice of the Displaced: The United Nations Commissioner for Refugees began its work 60 years ago (January 1, 2011)
  7. ↑ THE STANDARD: "Three empty rooms in the Palace of Nations" (January 21, 2011)
  8. ↑ Refugee aid after the Second World War - review of the first UNHCR programs in Germany and Austria (lastexitflucht.org)
  9. ↑ DER SPIEGEL: SOVIET ZONE REFUGEES: Pure panic at the end of the day (No. 8/1953)
  10. ↑ De Journalist (villamedia.nl)
  11. ↑ Een grillige zonderling: Journalist s minister Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart (1901-1956) (NRC-Handelsblad, March 22, 2011)
  12. ↑ Politieke geschiedenis: Eigengereid en vol vuur-Verdiende biography van Heuven Goedhart ( histornieuwsblad.nl )
personal data
SURNAME Heuven Goedhart, Gerrit Jan van
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch lawyer and UN High Commissioner for Refugees
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Bussum , North Holland , Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH July 8, 1956
Place of death Geneva , Switzerland