Gerardus Philippus "Gerard" Helders (9 March 1905 – 6 January 2013) was a Dutch politician and diplomat of the defunct Christian Historical Union (CHU) party now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist. Helders applied at the

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

in June 1925

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 in July 1927 before graduating with a

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 1929. Helders worked as a

paralegal A paralegal, also known as a legal assistant, or paralegal specialist is a professional who performs tasks that require knowledge of legal concepts but not the full expertise of a lawyer with a license to practice law. The market for paralegals i ...

for a law firm in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

from July 1929 until February 1931 Helders worked as a civil servant for the Ministry of Colonial Affairs in

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

from February 1931 until April 1936 and as a senior tax collector in

Bandung Bandung ( su, ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Bandung, ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Java. It has a population of 2,452,943 within its city limits according to the official estimates as at mid 2021, making it the fourth most ...

from April 1936 until May 1941 and as chief tax collector in Batavia from May 1941 until March 1942. Helders also served in the

military reserve force A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve f ...

of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army as a

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

and was in service during the

Dutch East Indies campaign The Dutch East Indies campaign of 1941–1942 was the conquest of the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) by forces from the Empire of Japan in the early days of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Forces from the Allies attempted u ...

. On 8 March 1942 Helders was captured following the Battle of Borneo and detained in the Japanese internment camp

Kampong Makassar Kampong Makassar was one several internment camps in the island of Java near Batavia (present-day Jakarta) in which the Japanese interned enemy civilians, mostly Dutch, after the Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Net ...

and was detained until September 1945. Following the end of

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 ...

Helders moved back to the Netherlands and worked as a civil servant for the Ministry of Finance from December 1945 until February 1948 as Deputy Director-General of the department for Legal Affairs from June 1946 until April 1947 and as Director-General of the department for Legal Affairs from April 1947 until February 1948. In January 1948 Bakker was nominated as CFO of the

Nationale Handelsbank The Nederlandsch-Indische Handelsbank (NIHB, ) was a Dutch bank established in 1863 to finance trade between the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. During most of the colonial period, it was the second-largest of the “big three” commercia ...

serving from 1 February 1948 until 1 January 1949 when he was nominated as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the Nationale Handelsbank. After the election of 1956 Helders was appointed as Minister of Colonial Affairs in the Cabinet Drees III, taking office on 16 February 1957. The Cabinet Drees III fell on 11 December 1958 and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity until it was replaced by the caretaker Cabinet Beel II with Helders continuing as Minister of Colonial Affairs, taking office on 22 December 1958. Following the cabinet formation of 1959 Helders was not giving a cabinet post in the new

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

, the Cabinet Beel II was replaced by the Cabinet De Quay on 19 May 1959. In July 1959 Helders was nominated as Member of the Council of State, serving from 1 August 1959 until 1 September 1975. Helders 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 and served on several state commissions and as an diplomat and lobbyist for several economic delegations on behalf of the government.

Biography

Early life

Helders was born in

. His father worked as a winetrader. From 1925 to 1929 he studied civil law at

. He married in 1930 and was the father of one son and four daughters.

Politics

Helders started his career as a politician for the Christian Historical Union in the Dutch colony of the

where he worked as a member of the city council in the cities

and

(nowadays

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, 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 Council of State.

Longevity

At the time of his death at the age of 107, he was the oldest living former Dutch politician. As Minister of Colonial Affairs he worked under

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Willem Drees Willem () is a Dutch and West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic, and can be seen as the Dutch equivalent of the name William in English, Gui ...

who himself reached the high age of 101. Helders lived in Wassenaar. For his 105th, 106th and 107th birthday the mayor of Wassenaar visited him, and on each occasion he wrote in his blog that he was surprised that Helders was still in such good health and well aware of current affairs. Helders became the oldest living man in the Netherlands after the death of 110-year-old Cornelis Geurtz on 21 August 2012. He had twelve grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.Zelden denk ik aan de dood
NRC Handelsblad, 12 August 2011 Helders died on 6 January 2013.

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
Mr. G.Ph. (Gerard) Helders
Parlement & Politiek {{DEFAULTSORT:Helders, Gerard 1905 births 2013 deaths Christian Historical Union politicians Commanders of the Order of Orange-Nassau Diplomats from Rotterdam Dutch bankers Dutch centenarians Dutch chief executives in the finance industry Dutch corporate directors Dutch expatriates in Indonesia Dutch fiscal jurists Dutch members of the Dutch Reformed Church Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch nonprofit executives Dutch people of World War II Dutch prisoners of war in World War II Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Leiden University alumni Members of the Council of State (Netherlands) Men centenarians Ministers of Colonial Affairs of the Netherlands Members of Indonesian city councils Politicians from Rotterdam People from Wassenaar Protestant Church Christians from the Netherlands Royal Netherlands Army officers Royal Netherlands East Indies Army officers Royal Netherlands East Indies Army personnel of World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Japan 20th-century Dutch businesspeople 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch diplomats 20th-century Dutch economists 20th-century Dutch jurists 20th-century Dutch politicians