Johan Ringers

Johan Ringers (1946)

Johannes "Johan" Aleidis Ringers (* 2. January 1885 in Alkmaar , North Holland , † 6. May 1965 in The Hague ) was a Dutch hydraulic engineer , and non-party politicians , the general director of the Office of Hydraulic Engineering ( Rijkswaterstaat ) and the railway undertaking of Dutch- India was NIS ( Nederlands-Indische Spoorweg ) and was government commissioner for reconstruction after the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II in 1940 until his internment.

After the end of the war, Ringers was appointed Minister for Public Works and Reconstruction in the cabinet of Prime Minister Willem Schermerhorn in 1945 and held this ministerial office until 1946 in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Louis Beel .

Life

Degree and engineer

After attending the secondary school in Alkmaar in 1902, Ringers began studying transport engineering at the Delft Polytechnic , which he graduated in 1906 with “cum laude” as a civil engineer. He then began his professional career in 1906 as an engineer in the Department of Hydraulic Engineering (Rijkswaterstaat) and was employed in its district office in Goes until 1916 , where, among other things, he managed the construction of the third lock in Hansweert , which is part of the canal through Zuid-Beveland . He then worked as an engineer for the Dutch-Indian Railway Company (Nederlandsch-Indische Spoorwegmaatschappij) on Java between 1916 and 1920 , before he was the chief engineer of the Rijkswaterstaat, responsible for the canalization of West Friesland from 1920 to May 1, 1921 .

Afterwards Ringers was until 1 August 1927 as chief engineer of the Rijkswaterstaat responsible for the construction of the from May 1, 1921 North Sea Canal belonging Nordschleuse (Noordersluis) at IJmuiden responsible. Thereupon he acted from January 1, 1927 to April 1, 1930 as director and main person in charge of the company for the execution of the Zuiderzeewerke MUZ (NV Maatschappij tot Uitvoering van de Zuiderzeewerken) , before moving between April 1, 1930 and December 1, 1935 Director General of the Office for Hydraulic Engineering (Rijkswaterstaat) was.

For the opening of the IJmuiden lock, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Dutch Lion on April 29, 1930 . On September 22, 1930, the Technical University of Delft awarded him an honorary doctorate in technical sciences and on June 7, 1932, the Technical University of Danzig another honorary doctorate. From 1935 to 1940 he was a member of the board of the Dutch-Indian Railway Company in The Hague.

Second World War, concentration camp prisoner and minister after the end of the war

After the German occupation of the Netherlands, Ringers became government commissioner for reconstruction on May 30, 1940, and then took over the resulting post as authorized representative for reconstruction and the construction industry on December 23, 1940. He held this position until his arrest on April 1, 1943 and then stayed in the Oranjehotel , the Scheveningen prison, until November 24, 1943 . He was then interned in the Herzogenbusch concentration camp in Vught from November 24, 1943 to April 5, 1944, and in the internment camp in Sint-Michielsgestel between April 5 and 24, 1944 , before finally joining his Liberated on April 21, 1945 in Oranienburg concentration camp .

After the end of the war, Prime Minister Willem Schermerhorn appointed Minister for Public Works (Minister van Openbare Werken) to the Schermerhorn / Drees cabinet on June 25, 1945 and served in this cabinet since August 16, 1945 and then in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Louis Beel bis on November 15, 1946 as Minister for Public Works and Reconstruction (Minister van Openbare Werken en Wederopbouw) . He resigned from this ministerial office because of his dissatisfaction with government policy in the Dutch East Indies and was then replaced by Hein Vos .

He then largely withdrew from politics and was most recently working as a consulting engineer for the British government and for the energy company BPM (NV Bataafse Petroleum Maatschappij) from 1947 . For his many years of service as an engineer and as a minister, he was also appointed commander of the Order of the Dutch Lions on February 17, 1948 .

His marriage to Clasina Mann in Schagerbrug on March 22, 1922 resulted in four sons and a daughter.

Publications

• Een eeuw Nederlandse waterbouw , 1947

Background literature

• M. Tessel Pollmann-Schlichting: Van Waterstaat dead Wederopbouw, het leven van dr.ir. JA Ringers (1885-1965) , Amsterdam 2006, ISBN 9085062551

Web links

• Parlement & Politiek