Willem Schermerhorn


Willem "Wim" Schermerhorn was a Dutch politician of the defunct Free-thinking Democratic League and later co-founder of the Labour Party. He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 25 June 1945 until 3 July 1946. According to Harry W. Laidler, the government under Schermerhorn's premiership "achieved important results in the fields of labor, finance, housing, old age pensions, and the social services."

Early life

Willem Schermerhorn was born on 17 December 1894 in Akersloot in the Dutch Province of North Holland. He grew up in a Protestant family of farmers. He became professor at the Delft University of Technology on 7 September 1926. Schermerhorn remained professor until 1944, when he was removed by the German occupational forces because of his activities in the Dutch resistance. He was interned by the German occupational forces as a hostage in Sint-Michielsgestel from May 1942 until December 1943. After he was removed as professor in 1944 Schermerhorn went into hiding to avoid being taken prisoner by the German occupational forces.

Politics

On 24 June 1945 he became Prime Minister of the cabinet Schermerhorn/Drees, the first cabinet after World War II. Schermerhorn was the first Dutch Prime Minister who appointed civil servants with a political background, people like Koos Vorrink and Hendrik Brugmans. After the elections of 1946 he became a member of parliament, as a member of the social-democratic Labour Party. He remained a member of parliament until 1951. After his parliamentarian career ended he became director of the International Training Center for Aerial Survey in 1951. In 1956 he became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Personal life

On 9 April 1919, Schermerhorn married Barbara Rook. Wim Schermerhorn died on 10 March 1977 in Haarlem. He was 82.
His brother,, was an engineer in the Soviet Union. He was killed during the Stalinist purges in 1937. His sister, Neeltje, was married to theologian Johannes Marie de Jonge, principal of the Theological Seminary of the Dutch Reformed Church in Driebergen.

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