12 Facts About Anne Zernike

Anne Zernike was a Dutch, liberal theologian, who was the first ordained woman minister of the Netherlands.

Anne Zernike was born on 30 April 1887 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, to the teachers and mathematicians Antje and Carl Friedrich August Zernike.

Anne Zernike was raised in a family of intellectuals, including a sister Elisabeth Zernike who became a novelist and a brother Frits who would later win the Nobel Prize for Physics.

Anne Zernike completed her primary schooling and attended the High School for Girls on the Keizersgracht.

Anne Zernike began her studies at the University of Amsterdam and because the only denomination which would ordain women was the Mennonite Church, she joined that congregation.

On 5 November 1911 in the Frisian town of Bovenknijpe, Anne Zernike was ordained and preached her sermon on Jeremiah 31.

Shortly after they arrived, Anne Zernike discovered she was pregnant and began working on her thesis which she titled, On historical materialism and social democratic ethics.

Jan succumbed to his illness on 23 April 1920 and Anne Zernike left Eerbeek for Rotterdam the following year.

Anne Zernike returned to the ministry but not with the Anabaptists, as she felt a greater affinity with a more liberal and newly formed church belonging to the Dutch Protestant Association.

Anne Zernike retired from preaching in 1948 but continued writing on theological issues.

Anne Zernike published her memoirs in 1956 and remained active throughout the 1960s.

Anne Zernike died on 6 March 1972 in Amersfoort, The Netherlands and was buried with her husband in Eerbeek.