Marinus van der Goes van Naters

Marinus van der Goes van Naters (1946)

Jonkheer Marinus van der Goes van Naters (born December 21, 1900 in Nijmegen , † February 12, 2005 in Wassenaar ) was a Dutch politician . He was a prominent member of the social democratic parties in both Dutch and European politics.

From 1937 to 1967 he was a member of the Second Chamber of the States General , from 1945 to 1951 parliamentary group chairman of the SDAP and PvdA . From 1952 to 1958 van der Goes van Naters was a member of the joint assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), then to 1967 of the European Parliament . In 1952/53 he worked out a plan on the Saar question .

background

Van der Goes van Naters was a descendant of the Van der Goes family , a noble family from Nijmegen with a Protestant - liberal background. He attended Nijmeegs Gymnasium and then studied law at the University of Leiden from 1919 to 1923 . After completing his studies, he established himself as a lawyer in Nijmegen . Van der Goes completed his Praktijk (practical phase of the Dutch lawyer training) in 1930 with a doctorate in law, after which he settled in Heerlen .

Political career

Pre-war and wartime

In the 1930s he joined the Sociaal-Democratische Arbeiderspartij (German: Social Democratic Workers' Party ) and became a board member there in 1935. On June 8, 1937, he was elected to the Tweede Kamer (2nd Chamber) of the Dutch Parliament .

Van der Goes spent most of World War II in captivity, along with the rest of the political top who had not fled to England . He sat one behind the other in the Buchenwald concentration camp , in the internment camp in Haaren and finally in St. Michielsgestel . There he was liberated by the Allies in 1944 when they invaded the Netherlands .

After 1945

Van der Goes van Naters in 1947

Immediately after the liberation, Van der Goes returned to Dutch politics. In 1945 he became the first post-war parliamentary group leader of the SDAP and retained this position in 1946 when the party changed its name to Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA, Party of Labor). Van der Goes took care of the reconstruction and the reparation payments from Germany during this time . He was a leading force in plans to annex German territory on a large scale as compensation for Dutch war damage .

At the same time, because of his social democratic background, he belonged to a group that saw international cooperation and European unity as a means of avoiding further wars. Van der Goes became involved in the Socialist Movement for the United States of Europe and the Mouvement Gauche Européenne that emerged from it in 1948 .

In 1951 van der Goes came into conflict with his Prime Minister Willem Drees over the question of the Dutch East Indies . Opinions diverged particularly on the question of New Guinea . Van der Goes wanted to negotiate with the Republic of Indonesia here . He lost the power struggle and had to resign as parliamentary group leader, but remained a member of the Tweede Kamer even after the 1952 elections.

In addition, as a representative of the Dutch States General, he became a member of the joint assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and, from 1958, of the European Parliament that emerged from it . There he belonged to the Social Democratic Group (SOC).

Van der Goes prepared a report on the Saar question on behalf of the Council of Europe in 1952-53 , in which he pleaded for a Europeanization of the Saar area . In doing so, he prepared the European Saar Statute , which was agreed between France and the Federal Republic of Germany in 1954 , but which was rejected by the Saar states in a referendum. Furthermore, van der Goes campaigned for the Wylerberg (Duivelsberg) , which is located near his hometown Nijmegen and is controversial between Germany and the Netherlands, to remain in the Netherlands, which was regulated in the 1963 border treaty between the two states.

Van der Goes carried out these duties until 1967 when he left both the Dutch and European parliaments. In the intervening years he had campaigned for reconstruction, European integration and cooperation in development with poorer countries. He was also one of the first politicians in the Netherlands to stand up for the preservation of the environment .

After his political career

Prince Bernhard gives van der Goes the Zilveren Anjer (1964)

Although he was officially retired, Van der Goes remained politically interested and active. From 1970 to 1973 he was visiting professor at the University of Rwanda .

He then devoted himself to his autobiography "Met en tegen de tijd: Een daughter door de twintigste eeuw" (With and against time: A foray through the 20th century), which appeared in 1980.

At the same time he remained active in the background of his PvdA. From his home in Wassenaar from it (rarely moderate) announced his opinion on current affairs in the party newspaper of the PvdA, which led to considerable controversy in the party base, especially if the rode jonker (red Junker) are less positive about popular politicians like Wim Kok left out .

Marinus van der Goes van Naters was made a knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion in 1951 . In 1967 he was promoted to commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau in gratitude for his commitment to the country .

His grandson is the journalist and PvdA member of the European Parliament Thijs Berman

He died in Wassenaar on February 12, 2005, at the old age of 104.

literature

• Bernd-A. Rusinek : Western research traditions after 1945. An attempt on continuity, in: Burkhard Dietz, Helmut Gabel, Ulrich Tiedau (eds.): Griff nach dem Westen. The “ western research ” of the national and ethnic sciences on the north-western European area 1919–1960 , vol. 2, Waxmann, Münster 2003, p. 1141–1201 full text : Goes van Naters p. 53f, p. 65; his Greater German rival Franz Steinbach passim

Web links

• Literature by and about Marinus van der Goes van Naters in the catalog of the German National Library
• Biography from parlement.com
• Entry in the Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland (Dutch)

notes

1. ↑ Bruno Leuvrey: La Sarre et le Conseil d'Europe 1949-1954. In: Rainer Hudemann, Raymond Poidevin: The Saar 1945–1955. A problem in European history. 2nd edition, R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1995, pp. 97-114, at pp. 109-113.
2. ^ Per Fischer: The Saar Statute of the Council of Europe. Advance into uncharted territory in European integration policy. In: Rainer Hudemann, Raymond Poidevin: The Saar 1945–1955. A problem in European history. 2nd edition, R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1995, pp. 115-126, on pp. 109-113.
3. ^ Herbert Elzer: The German reunification on the Saar. The Federal Ministry for All-German Issues and the network of the pro-German opposition 1949–1955. Röhrig Universitätsverlag, St. Ingbert 2007, 61–62.
4. ↑ E. Pelzers: Marinus van der Goes van Naters. In: Biografisch woordenboek Gelderland. P. 44.
5. ↑ Reference to IGL archive , file IGL 89, contains Franz Steinbach, "Comments on the Saar memorandum of Mr. van der Goes van Naters", October 28, 1953. Steinbach wanted, as for decades, the German western border as far west as possible against which Goes van Naters protested