Johann Heinrich (Harry) Diemer (7 November 1904 – June 1945) was born in

Dronrijp Dronryp ( nl, Dronrijp) is a village in the Dutch municipality of Waadhoeke. On 1 January 2017, it had 3,281 inhabitants. History and architecture Before 2018, the village was part of the Menameradiel municipality. A few centuries BC, a settleme ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. His father was the reverend N. Diemer, who served at the Reformed Church at

Vijfhuizen Vijfhuizen is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, and lies about 4 km southeast of Haarlem. In January 2011, the town of Vijfhuizen had 4387 inhabitants. The built-up area of th ...

. He studied biology at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

. He studied the ideas of Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck and Jan Woltjer, and soon became an adherent of

Herman Dooyeweerd Herman Dooyeweerd (7 October 1894, Amsterdam – 12 February 1977, Amsterdam) was a professor of law and jurisprudence at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam from 1926 to 1965. He was also a philosopher and principal founder of Reformational phil ...

and D. H. Th. Vollenhoven's

Reformational philosophy Reformational philosophy of society is a neo-Calvinistic movement pioneered by Herman Dooyeweerd and D. H. Th. Vollenhoven that seeks to develop philosophical thought in a Reformed Christian direction. It is related to the idea of a politi ...

. He gave much of his free time to the Association for Calvinistic Philosophy; he was secretary to the editorial board for its journal ''

Philosophia Reformata ''Philosophia Reformata'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal of the Association for Reformational Philosophy, which was founded in 1935. Formerly published by the Association, as of 2015 the journal is published by Brill Publishers. The e ...

'' from its inception in 1936. During the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

, he became acquainted with the young biology student

Jan Lever Jan Lever ( Groningen, 20 July 1922 – Amsterdam, 23 November 2010) was a Dutch biologist specialized in zoology, endocrinology and evolutionary biology. His ideas on evolution may be characterized as a form of theistic evolution. Lever was an im ...

, the later professor of zoology at the

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...

. After the War, Lever spoke highly of Diemer as a biologist and theoretician, and he dedicated his book, ''Creatie en Evolutie'' (1956), to Diemer. In January 1945 Diemer was arrested by the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

s and was sent to the

Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in Northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, th ...

. He died in 1945, shortly after having been liberated by the British.

References

*Herman Dooyeweerd. 'In memory of Johann "Harry" Heinrich Diemer', in ''Nature and Miracle'' (originally published in Dutch in ''Philosophia Reformata''). *Chris Gousmett
"A latter day Augustinian: Diemer, creation and miracle"
*H. Cook and A.C. Flipse
"Jan Lever: Challenging the Role of Typological Thinking in Reformational Views of Biology"
in: ''Philosophia Reformata'' 82/1 (2017), 3-25

Books

*''Nature and Miracle'' (Wedge: Toronto, 1977). . {{DEFAULTSORT:Diemer, Johann Heinrich 1904 births 1945 deaths Dutch biologists People from Menaldumadeel 20th-century biologists People who died in Neuengamme concentration camp Dutch people who died in Nazi concentration camps Dutch civilians killed in World War II