Gerbrandy, Pieter Sjoerds |
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BORN 13 Apr 1885, Goënga, Friesland - DIED 7 Sep 1961, Den Haag, Zuid-Holland GRAVE LOCATION Den Haag, Zuid-Holland: Oud Eik en Duinen, Laan van Eik en Duinen (D1 2871 A) |
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Pieter Gerbrandy was a member of the Anti Revolutionary Party (ARP) from 1920 to 1930. He became a professor at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam in 1930. His party advised him against it, but in 1939 he accepted the post of Minister of Justice. After the German Invasion in 1940 the Dutch royal family fled to England. Prime Minister De Geeer resigned and queen Wilhelmina appointed Gerbrandy prime minister of the Dutch Government in exile. The broadcasts of Radio Oranje (Radio Orange) were his initiative and he was often heard in support of the resistance forces. Winston Churchill liked to call him Sherry Brandy. After the liberation of the Netherlands he resigned as prime minister. He was a strong opponent of Indonesian independence and between 1946 and 1950 he was the chairman of the Committee for the Maintenance of the Kingdom's Unity. In 1948 he re-entered parliament and in that year he was talking to other conservative forces that wanted to remove prime minister Beel with or without force. He was appointed Minister of State in 1955 and in 1956 he was a member of the committee that had to find a solution for the affair around Greet Hofmans, who had a huge influence on queen Juliana. He resigned from parliament in 1959 and died in The Hague in 1961. |
| Images |
 The grave of Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy at Oud Eik en Duinen, The Hague. Picture by Androom (07 Dec 2013) |
