Lodewijk van Mierop

Lodewijk van Mierop (1906)

Lodewijk van Mierop , real name: Dirk Lodewijk Willem van Mierop (born January 1, 1876 in Rotterdam ; † June 13, 1930 in Bussum ), was a Dutch author , anti-militarist , magazine editor, activist, organizer, pacifist and Christian anarchist .

Life

Van Mierop grew up in a wealthy family. His father, Lodewijk Regnerus Constantijn Gertrudes van Mierop, was a timber merchant . His mother, Justine Marie Pauline van Lelyveld, convinced him to study theology . Even as a teenager, he was convinced by his mother's interest in sociaal georienteerd Christendom , a supporter of Christian anarchism. In addition to theology in Amsterdam, he also studied mathematics and natural history in Leiden . Through other theology students he got to know the works of Lev Tolstoy .

He was the founder and organizer of various associations and organizations. Editor and publisher of several magazines, chairman and propagandist. In 1915 van Mierop signed a manifesto for conscientious objection and was sentenced to 15 days in prison. He described his experiences with this in his published diary Uit de cel (Soest 1916). Together with Felix Ortt , van Mierop was one of the most influential Christian anarchists in the Netherlands.

Act

After completing his studies, van Mierop devoted himself to Christian anarchism , convinced that a life in the spirit of Jesus Christ offered the opportunity to change society. In his opinion, these included non-violence, conscientious objection, sexual abstinence ( geslachtelijke zelfsbeheersing ) and vegetarianism . Van Mierop was on the board of the Nederlandsche Vegetariers Bond ("Dutch Vegetarian Association") founded in 1894 during the First World War . In 1897 he founded the Algemeen Nederlandsche Geheel-Onthouder Bond ("General Dutch Abstinence Association", ANGOB), of which Jacob van Rees was chairman and Hendrik Ebo Kaspers was an active participant. He was editor and author of the ANGOB magazine De Geheelonthouder . Together with Felix Ortt and Jacob van Rees, he was involved in the publication of the Tolstoyan magazine Vrede (Friede).

In October 1899 he founded the group Vereniging Internationale Broederschap (literally: "Association of the International Brotherhood", VIB; or IB for short) in Blaricum, which should live according to the ideals of Christian anarchism. Together with GF Lindeijer he was the editor of the VIB magazine Arbeiders-Weekblad (“Arbeiter-Wochenblatt”). The VIB initially consisted of around 20 members, including a baker, a tobacco dealer, workers from various professions and a pastor as well as their wives and children. In 1903 the VIB showed solidarity with the railway strike that took place there ("Spoorwegstaking").

In 1903 there was a conflict with the neighboring population. They broke into the grounds of the "spinach eaters" and "red grass eaters" (meaning the vegetarians), and arson broke out. Some members of the VIB wanted to defend themselves with weapons, but van Mierop and Felix Ortt rejected the violent resistance. That was the end of the VIB. Felix Ortt described the downfall of the "Union of the International Brotherhood" in his novel Felicia (1905).

In the spring of 1901 he supported the Rein Leven Moving (meaning: "Movement for Chaste Life", RLB) and the magazine Rein Leven . In order to unite the Christian anarchists, who at the time were scattered in various groups and organizations, van Mierop founded the Chreestarchia Foundation in Soest in 1908 , which, however, did not last long and was then mainly continued as a publishing house.

Van Mierop moved to Amersfoort in 1903 and founded the magazine Tegen Leugen en Geweld (“Against Lies and Violence”). After the end of the VIB he got in touch with the Christian-anarchist group Nieuwe Niedorp , where he was on the board until 1909.

From 1907 to 1925, van Mierop was chairman of the Het Ingekeerde Leven Foundation, which he founded . The foundation published religious writings and made books available on loan. Together with his wife, Geertruida van Mierop-Mulder, he founded the Engendaalsschool in 1912 , a school based on humanitarian principles. The school management had to meet strict requirements: to be non-smokers, anti-militarists and abstainers. The name was changed to Stichting van der Huchtschool in 1929 . In the same year Felix Ortt founded the Stichting tot in standhouding van der Huchtschool ("Foundation for the Preservation of the Van der Huchtschool").

Van Mierop was also involved in the establishment of the Nationaal Comitee voor Moederbescherming en seksuele Hervorming (for example: "National Committee for Maternity Protection and Sexual Reorganization"). This committee supported, among other things, unmarried mothers and campaigned for the fight against prostitution. In November 1912 he was able to achieve through his appearance that a Rein Leven-Bewegungsing (RLB) was created in Belgium . Through his years of propaganda in the magazine Levenskracht (literally: "vital force"), which he edited , an RLB group was also able to emerge in the Dutch East Indies .

For about 18 months, van Mierop traveled to Bern with his wife in June 1914 to relax. Back in the Netherlands in 1915 he was a co-founder of the Vrije Menschen Verbond ("Union of Free People", VMV). The VMV joined the Bond van Christen-Socialsten ("Bund der Christen-Sozialisten"). Van Mierop and Felix Ortt tried in vain to establish an anarchist course for the federal government. In 1915 he signed the Dienstweigeringsmanifest ("Manifesto for conscientious objection to military service") and was sentenced to 15 days in prison. The Dutch anarchist Jan Sterringa also signed the manifesto but was not convicted. Until 1923 van Mierop was editor of the magazine De Vrije Communist ("The Free Communist"), at which Christiaan Cornelissen was editor until 1907.

In 1920, Clara Gertrud Wichmann , van Mierop and others founded the Bond van religieuze Anarcho-Communisten ("Association of Religious Anarcho-Communists ", BRAC), which propagated non-violence. Together with Kees Boeke and CG Wichmann, van Mierop was a member of the Comitee van Actie tegen de bestaande opvattingen van Misdaden en Straf . Van Mierop published a series of articles in the avant-garde magazine i10, Van Misdadiger dead targeting . He was of the opinion that criminals (“misdadiger”) had a sick soul (“targeting”).

In 1929 he retired from the RLB committee and in the same year the magazine Levenskracht appeared for the last time.

Lodewijk van Mierop published under the pseudonyms "Homo" and "Laborator". He was married to Wilder and had three children.

See also

• Anarchism in the Netherlands

Publications (selection)

• Met of zonder staatshulp? Het voor en tegen van wettelijke bepalingen, in zake drankbestrijding, wat nader beschouwd. Een woord tot all drankbestrijders . Dordrecht 1898.
• Hoe is onze houding tegenover oorlog en militarisme? . The Hague 1899.
• Weg met het militarisme! , The Hague 1899.
• Dwepers! Een Beschouwing over Tolstoy en zijn geestverwanten . The Hague 1901.
• Algemene werkstaking. Blaricum (no year)
• Mijn aanklacht. Een moordaanslag van Staatswege. Amersfoort 1903.
• Wanneer is geslachtsgemeenschap geoorloofd? , Amersfoort 1904.
• De slavernij der vrouw . The Hague 1907.
• Waarom het 'vrije huwelik' zin heeft in our tegenwoordige maatschappij. Amsterdam 1910.
• The purely leven movement in hair beginsel en work done . 1913.
• Het the persoonlike vrijheid tegenover de state power . Rotterdam 1916.
• Denial of service uit beginsel geen punishable by law. Soest 1916.
• Een vertrouwelik woord tot jonge mannen aankomende jongens over a secret gewoonte. 1922.
• Wij iron vrijlating van onschuldig veroordeelden. 1905.
• Together with Felix Ortt: Des Christens standpunt tegenover het maatschappelijk leven . Soest 1912.

further reading

• Hans Ariens, Laurens Berentsen, Frank Hermans: Religieus anarchisme in Nederland tussen 1918 en 1940: in het rijk der vrijheid. Zwolle 1984, ISBN 90-6346-518-1 .
• C. Broos, Carel Blotkamp, ​​Marjan Boot: Kunst en kunstbedrijf: Nederland 1914-1940 . (Nederlands kunsthistorisch jaarboek, part 28). Published by the Ministerie van Cultuur, Recreatie en Maatschappelijk Werk, 1978, ISBN 978-90-228-4431-1 .
• André de Raaij: Onze god is een arbeider - de Nederlandse christen-anarchisten omstreeks de eeuwwisseling. Amsterdam 1989.
• Albert de Jong : Lodewijk van Mierop . In Bevrijding magazine . No. 3. 1930
• JB Meijer: Bij het overlijden van Truus van Mierop . In the magazine Socialisme van onderop! dated October 15, 1949.
• MWJL Boersen: De kolonie van de internationale broederschap te Blaricum. Blaricum 1987.
• Max Nettlau (Ed.): History of Anarchy . Newly published by Heiner Becker. In collaboration with the IISG , Amsterdam. Library Thélème, Münster 1993, 1st edition. Reprint of the Berlin edition, Verlag Der Syndikalist , 1927.
  • Volume 5, Anarchists and Syndicalists . Section IX. “The Dutch socialist beginnings. Multatuli. International. Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis. The communist anarchists. The Christian Anarchists ”.
• Amanda Kluveld: Reis door de hel of the onschuldigen . Amsterdam University Press. Amsterdam 2000, ISBN 90-5356-405-5 , p. 131.
• Christine Holste, Richard Faber (ed.): The Potsdamer Forte circle. A utopian intellectual association for European peacekeeping. Publishing house Königshausen & Neumann. Würzburg 2001, ISBN 3-8260-2041-3 , p. 57.
• Dennis de Lange: You are the revolution! Tolstojanism as a social movement in the Netherlands. Verlag Graswurzelrevolution, Heidelberg 2016. ISBN 978-3-939045-27-4

Individual evidence

1. ^ Author: Piet Hoekman . In: Biografisch Woordenboek van het Socialisme en de Arbeidersbewegung in Nederland (BWSA). First published in BWSA 6, 1995, pp. 142-147. Last change: February 10, 2003. In the IISG (Amsterdam). Dutch, accessed July 4, 2012.
2. ↑ See on this: Foundation / magazine De As , "Jaarboek Anarchisme 1997". Pp. 24-35.
3. ↑ Deru Schelhaas: Broedplaatsen: De spinazievreters van het Gooi. In: bkbacademie.nl. Archived from the original on February 22, 2013 ; Retrieved April 30, 2019 (Dutch). 
4. ↑ Cf. on this: Christine Holste, Richard Faber (ed.): Der Potsdamer Forte-Kreis . P. 57. Quote: "With the relocation of the publisher and printer of the magazine" Vrede. Organ tot bespreking van der Praktijk der Kurbde ", Blaricum became a meeting point for the Tolstoian-inspired peace and settler movement in the Netherlands in 1902. (...) The employees included Lodewijk van Mierop and Felix Ortt, who lives in Blaricum. The small pacifist-anarchist movement supported by intellectuals had proclaimed passive resistance and in 1901 opposed the successful "Dutch Women's Association for International Disarmament" with a manifesto on conscientious objection, which was also supported by Bertha von Suttner as part of the civil peace movement ” .
5. ↑ Cf. on this: Amanda Kluveld: Reis door de hel der onschuldigen . Quote: “Dit proces was in full gear, toen Ortt zich, samen met zijn vriend Lodewijk van Mierop, in 1902 in de kolonie vestigde om daar de drukkerij Vrede voort te zetten. Daar maakten zij mee dat de gemeenschap van kolonisten uiteen a lot ” . P. 131. Google Books
6. ^ De kolonie te Nieuwe Niedorp en het Federatieve Fund. History of the Nieuwe Niedorp group. In: familieteeling.nl . Retrieved July 4, 2012 (Dutch).
7. ↑ Tiny de Boer's inventory . Nationaal Stichting van der Huchtschool (Soest). Among other things, through the Engendaalschool . At the IISG Amsterdam. Dutch, accessed July 4, 2012.
8. ↑ Cf. on this: C. Broos, C. Blotkamp, ​​Marjan Boot: Kunst en kunstbedrijf: Nederland 1914-1940 . Quote: "In zijn artikelenreeks Van misdadiger tot Zielszieke Verwierp Lodewijk van Mierop het 'prinsipièel verschil tussen kriminelen en niet-kriminelen' en stelde een grondige change van de maatschappelijke houding tegenover misdadigers ..."