Gerard Helders: Difference between revisions
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===Later life=== |
===Later life=== |
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He currently lives in [[Wassenaar]]. For his 105th birthday the mayor visited him and wrote at his blog that he was surprised to notice that the former politician was well aware of all current affairs. <ref> {{nl icon}} [http://www.wassenaar.nl/Smartsite.shtml?id=75765]</ref> |
He currently lives in [[Wassenaar]]. For his 105th birthday the mayor visited him and wrote at his blog that he was surprised to notice that the former politician was in quite good health and well aware of all current affairs. <ref> {{nl icon}} [http://www.wassenaar.nl/Smartsite.shtml?id=75765]</ref> |
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===Trivia=== |
===Trivia=== |
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Revision as of 12:03, 20 March 2010
Gerardus Philippus Helders | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Dutch Council of State | |
| In office August 1, 1959 – September 1, 1975 | |
| Monarch | Juliana |
| Minister of Colonial Affairs | |
| In office February 16, 1957 – May 19, 1959 | |
| Prime Minister | Willem Drees (1957-1958) Louis Beel (1958-1959) |
| Preceded by | Kees Staf |
| Succeeded by | Henk Korthals |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Gerardus Philippus Helders March 9, 1905 Rotterdam, Netherlands |
| Political party | CHU (1932-1980) |
| Spouse | Pieternella Meijer (1930-1982) |
| Residence(s) | Wassenaar, Netherlands |
| Alma mater | Leiden University (LL.M.) |
| Occupation | Politician Public servant |
Gerardus Philippus Helders (born March 9, 1905) is a retired Dutch politician of the dissolved Christian Historical Union now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal. He is currently the oldest living former Dutch politician at the age of 105. [1]
Biography
Early life
Helders was born in Rotterdam. His father worked a winetrader. From 1925 to 1929 he studied civil law at Leiden University. He was married in 1930 and is the father of one son and four daughters. [2]
Politics
Helders started his career as a politician for the Christian Historical Union in the Dutch colony of the Dutch East Indies where he worked as a member of the city council in the cities Bandung and Batavia (nowadays Jakarta). From 1942 until 1945, during which Indonesia was occupied by Japan, Helders was interned. During the 1950s, Helders was for a short time minister of colonial affairs in two governments. In 1957 and 1958 in a government led by prime minister Willem Drees and a second one which was led by Louis Beel. During this period he was responsible for building up a government in the now Indonesian province of New-Guinea. From 1959 to 1975 he was a member of the Dutch Council of State. [3]
Later life
He currently lives in Wassenaar. For his 105th birthday the mayor visited him and wrote at his blog that he was surprised to notice that the former politician was in quite good health and well aware of all current affairs. [4]
Trivia
Helders is at the age of 105 the oldest living Dutch politician. As a minister of colonial affairs he worked under prime minister Willem Drees who himself reached the high age of 101.