Carl Paul Maria Romme (21 December 1896 – 16 October 1980) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Roman Catholic State Party (RKSP) and later co-founder of the

Catholic People's Party The Catholic People's Party ( nl, Katholieke Volkspartij, KVP) was a Catholic Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1945 as a continuation of the Roman Catholic State Party, which was a continuation of ...

(KVP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist. He was granted the honorary title of

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

on 16 December 1971. Romme attended the

Amsterdams Lyceum The Amsterdams Lyceum is a Dutch secondary school combining '' gymnasium'' and '' atheneum''. Both school types prepare students to go to university. It was established in 1917. The Amsterdams Lyceum has around 1100 students, most of whom are from ...

from June 1909 until June 1914 and applied at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

in June 1914

majoring An academic major is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits. A student who successfully completes all courses required for the major qualifies for an undergraduate degree. The word ''major'' (also called ''conc ...

in Law and obtaining a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree before graduating with an

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

degree in July 1919. Romme worked as a lawyer in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

from September 1919 until June 1937. Romme also worked as a trade association executive for the Catholic Employers association from November 1919 until December 1924 and was a contributing editor for the magazines ''Het Patroonsblad'' and ''De RK Werkgever'' from February 1920 until December 1924. Romme served on the

Municipal Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

of Amsterdam from April 1921 until June 1937 and served on the Provincial-Council of

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

from June 1935 until June 1937. Romme also became active in the

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The ...

and

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, infra ...

and occupied numerous seats as a corporate director and nonprofit director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards (

Brill Publishers Brill Academic Publishers (known as E. J. Brill, Koninklijke Brill, Brill ()) is a Dutch international academic publisher founded in 1683 in Leiden, Netherlands. With offices in Leiden, Boston, Paderborn and Singapore, Brill today publishes 27 ...

Elsevier Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', th ...

and the Concertgebouw) and served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government ( Mine Council and the Council for Culture). Romme also worked as an associate professor of

Labour law Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, ...

and at the Tilburg University from 1 January 1933 until 1 January 1935 and as a distinguished professor of Labour law,

Administrative law Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of Forms of government, government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are gener ...

and

Constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...

and at the Tilburg University from 1 January 1935 until 24 June 1937. Romme became a Member of the House of Representatives after the resignation of Leo Guit, serving from 31 January 1933 until 9 May 1933. Romme was elected as a Member of the Senate after the Senate election of 1937, taking office on 8 June 1937. After the election of 1937 Romme was appointed as Minister of Social Affairs in the Cabinet Colijn IV, taking office on 24 June 1937. The Cabinet Colijn IV fell on 29 June 1939 and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity until the cabinet formation of 1939 when it was replaced by the Cabinet Colijn V on 25 July 1939. Romme again worked as a lawyer in Amsterdam from January 1940 until June 1946. On 10 May 1940

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

invaded An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

the Netherlands and the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

fled to London to escape the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Romme continued to work as a lawyer. In December 1941 Romme was arrested and detained in Amsterdam and was released in January 1942. On 4 May 1942 Romme was arrested again and detained in Sint-Michielsgestel but was released four days later on 7 May 1942. Following the end of

Romme became actively involved with politics again and was one of the primary initiators for reforming the Roman Catholic State Party. On 22 December 1945 the Roman Catholic State Party was renamed as the Catholic People's Party, Romme was one of the co-founders and was selected as the first Leader of the Catholic People's Party and the '' Lijsttrekker'' (top candidate) of the Catholic People's Party for the election of 1946 on 10 January 1946. The Catholic People's Party had 31 seats in the House of House of Representatives previously held by the Roman Catholic State Party and made a small win, gaining 1 seat and remained the largest party and now had 32 seats in the House of Representatives. Romme was elected again as a Member of the House of Representatives and became the Parliamentary leader of the Catholic People's Party in the House of Representatives on 4 June 1946. Romme served continuously as Leader and Parliamentary leader for the next 15 years and was ''Lijsttrekker'' for the elections of 1948, 1952, 1956 and 1959.

Decorations

Honorary degrees

References

External links

*
Mr.Dr. C.P.M. (Carl) Romme
Parlement & Politiek *
Mr. C.P.M. Romme (RKSP)
Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal {{DEFAULTSORT:Romme, Carl 1896 births 1980 deaths Lawyers from Amsterdam Catholic People's Party politicians Commanders of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Dutch academic administrators Dutch columnists Dutch corporate directors Dutch legal writers Dutch magazine editors Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch nonprofit executives Dutch political commentators Dutch political party founders Dutch prisoners of war in World War II Dutch Roman Catholics Dutch scholars of constitutional law Dutch trade association executives General League of Roman Catholic Caucuses politicians Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Grand Crosses of the Order of the House of Orange Grand Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau Grand Officers of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Knights Commander with Star of the Order of St. Gregory the Great Knights of the Holy Sepulchre Labour law scholars Members of the Council of State (Netherlands) Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Members of the Provincial Council of North Holland Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the Senate (Netherlands) Ministers of Social Affairs of the Netherlands Ministers of State (Netherlands) Municipal councillors of Amsterdam People from Oirschot People from Tilburg Roman Catholic State Party politicians Scholars of administrative law Academic staff of Tilburg University University of Amsterdam alumni World War II civilian prisoners World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Writers from Amsterdam 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch lawyers 20th-century Dutch male writers 20th-century Dutch politicians