14 Facts About Hendrikus Colijn

Hendrikus "Hendrik" Colijn was a Dutch politician of the Anti-Revolutionary Party.

Hendrikus Colijn served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 4 August 1925 until 8 March 1926, and from 26 May 1933 until 10 August 1939.

Hendrikus Colijn was the first of six children, all of whom were born in Haarlemmermeer.

At the age of 16, Hendrikus Colijn went to a military academy in Kampen for officer training, where he graduated as a second lieutenant in 1892.

Hendrikus Colijn served in the Aceh War as the lieutenant of J B van Heutsz and six further years in the colonial administration as a lieutenant when van Heutsz became Governor General in 1904.

Hendrikus Colijn served as editor of De Standaard from 1922 to 1939.

In 1922, Hendrikus Colijn accepted the political leadership of the Anti-Revolutionary Party from Abraham Kuyper.

In 1925, Hendrikus Colijn became prime minister, but a year later, he had to step down when the House of Representatives accepted a resolution by Gerrit Hendrik Kersten of the Protestant Reformed Political Party that called for diplomatic mission to the Holy See to be recalled.

Hendrikus Colijn then returned to the Senate and from 1927 to 1929 served as head of the Dutch delegation to the League of Nations in Geneva.

That proved to be a success since at the election of 1933, the ARP gained two seats, and Hendrikus Colijn became prime minister again.

From 1933 to 1939, Hendrikus Colijn served four more times as prime minister.

Hendrikus Colijn's government responded to the economic crisis with a strict protectionist policy, which continued to weaken the Dutch economy.

Hendrikus Colijn's view was influenced by the tremendous show of force that the German blitzkrieg had shown and the relative weakness of the Allied forces.

In March 1943, Hendrikus Colijn was put under house arrest in a remote mountain hotel in Ilmenau, where he died on 18 September 1944.