Pieter Jelles Troelstra
Pieter Jelles Troelstra (born April 20, 1860 in Leeuwarden , Netherlands ; † May 12, 1930 in The Hague ) was a founding member of the SDAP (Social Democratic Workers Party) in the Netherlands and a well-known poet , especially in Friesland .
Life
Troelstra grew up in Stiens , a district of Leeuwarderadeel . Already during his time at the grammar school, the first signs of his later career became apparent. Contemporaries described his "fighter nature" and his talent as an organizer and as a writer. He came into contact with the writers Tsjalling Halbertsma and Onno Systra at an early age . With the latter he edited the poetry bundle It jonge Fyslân (The young Friesland) in 1881 . With Oebele Stelingwerf he founded the theater group Gysbert Japiks .
After graduating from school he studied law at the University of Groningen from 1882 to 1888 . He continued his literary activities. He worked in the editorial department of the literary magazine For hûs en hiem (For house and home) and for the Nij Frysk lieteboek (New Frisian songbook), which appeared in 1886. Troelstra also continued to work on his career as a political leader, both in the Frisian and socialist movements.
In 1888 Troelstra married Sjoukje Bokma de Boer (she became known as a children's book author under the pseudonym ' Nienke van Hichtum '). Together with her he had two children, Dieuwke and Jelle (later a well-known draftsman).
After completing his studies, Pieter Jelles Troelstra settled as a lawyer in Leeuwarden. Here he became a member of the Friese Volkspartij (Frisian People's Party) in 1890 , but after long doubts he decided to concentrate his political work entirely on the socialist movement.
In 1892, when regent Emma and the twelve-year-old Queen Wilhelmina visited Leeuwarden, anti-socialist uprisings broke out in response to the socialist demonstrations. As a lawyer, Troelstra defended his party comrades, whose apartment had been looted by those loyal to the king. Then his law firm went downhill.
After Troelstra had worked in Utrecht for some time , he moved to Amsterdam in 1893 . In 1894 he co-founded the Sociaal Democratische Arbeiders Partij - SDAP (Social Democratic Workers' Party) and in 1897 he was elected to the second chamber of the Dutch parliament for the constituency of Tytsjerksteradiel . There he presented himself primarily as a staunch antimonarchist. He refused to be present at Prinsjesdag , the opening of Parliament, and instead organized demonstrations in The Hague .
In addition to his political activities, he still worked as a lawyer. He gained a certain prominence through representing the Hogerhuis brothers . The trial of the three brothers who were accused of robbery and who always protested their innocence received much attention and was used by the socialist movement to challenge the legal system. In connection with this case, Troelstra had to serve a one-month prison sentence for disobeying the court.
When the party founded the daily newspaper Het Volk (Das Volk) in 1900 with financial support from its German sister party SPD , Troelstra became editor-in-chief . But as early as 1903 he was replaced by the party executive for the journalist Pieter Lodewijk Tak .
In the elections of 1901, the SDAP rose from two to six seats. Troelstra could not assert himself in his own constituency Tytsjerksteradiel and had to leave parliament for a short time. In the interim elections in the Amsterdam district, Pieter Jelles was able to return to parliament, where he remained until 1925.
Troelstra hoped that the monarchy would die out with Wilhelmina, as it looked as if the marriage of the queen with Prince Hendrik would remain childless. When Prime Minister Heemskerk announced the expected birth of an heir to the throne on December 22, 1908 and congratulated the royal couple amid loud cheers from Parliament, Troelstra took the floor and stated that the congratulations had not been pronounced on behalf of all members of parliament. This aroused disapproval not only from MPs and the population, but also from within their own parliamentary group. The expected wins in the following elections did not materialize.
Troelstra and Sjoukje Bokma de Boer's marriage had become unstable after moving to Amsterdam, due to his constant absence and an extra-marital relationship with the housekeeper, and they officially divorced in 1907. Troelstra married Sjoukje Osterbaan shortly after this divorce .
Toelstra began to devote himself more to literature again. In 1908 he published his now famous volume of poems Rispinge (Harvest), a work that stood out in a time of moralizing poetry due to its openness and the personal character of the poems. In the meantime, heavy struggles for direction have taken place in the SDAP, which ultimately led to the split-off of the left wing of the party and the establishment of the Communist Partij van Nederland (CPN) (Communist Party of the Netherlands). Troelstra remained a member of the SDAP.
After the outbreak of the November Revolution in Germany, Troelstra saw his chance to call the Dutch population to a socialist revolution in 1918. However, his calls were hardly listened to. That was a great disappointment for Troelstra. Gradually he began to withdraw from politics. In the last years of his life he wrote his memoirs under the title "Gedenkschriften". Pieter Jelles Troelstra died on May 12, 1930 in The Hague.
In 1973 the municipality of Leeuwarden honored Troelstra with the foundation of a new literary prize, the 'Piter Jelle Prize'.
The time of his marriage to Nienke van Hichtum ( Frisian Nynke fan Hichtum ) was filmed in the film Nynke , with Jeroen Willems as Troelstra and Monic Hendrickx as Nienke, directed by Pieter Verhoeff.
Works
- 1881: Fryske Brilloftswille
- 1881: Oan 'e Sédyk
- 1881: Wiersizzer fan âlde Foekje fan Heech
- 1881: It jonge Fryslân
- 1885: Fij, Lútsen!
- 1886: Nei de Stoarm
- 1886: Nij Frysk Lieteboek
- 1909: Rispinge
- 1910: Fen Liet en Libben
- 1930: commemorative writings
literature
- Entry in the Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland (Dutch)
Web links
- Literature by and about Pieter Jelles Troelstra in the catalog of the German National Library
- Newspaper article about Pieter Jelles Troelstra in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
Individual evidence
- ↑ De zaak-Troelstra. Leeuwarder Courant , November 1, 1899, accessed March 27, 2016 (Dutch).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Troelstra, Pieter Jelles |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch politician and poet |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 20, 1860 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Leeuwarden |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 12, 1930 |
| Place of death | The hague |