Julius Herman Boeke (

Wormerveer Wormerveer is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Zaanstad, and lies about 13 km northwest of Amsterdam. Wormerveer developed in the 15th century on the west bank of the Zaan river. It started t ...

, Netherlands, 15 November 1884 —

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

, 9 January 1956) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

economist and lawyer. He was a professor of Dutch Constitutional Law at

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 ...

, where he lectured and published works on the subject of the economy of 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 ...

Early life

Boeke was born in

, Netherlands. His father was Izaäk Herman Boeke, a

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

preacher. He spent his primary and secondary school years in Amsterdam, passing his final exams at the

Barlaeus Gymnasium The Barlaeus Gymnasium is a secondary school in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It is one of the five categorial gymnasia in Amsterdam, the other four being Vossius Gymnasium, Ignatius Gymnasium, Het 4e gymnasium and Cygnus Gymnasium. It offers a ...

in 1903. He then studied at the Faculty of Arts of Gemeentelijke_Universiteit. He graduated in 1906, obtaining a degree in law within eight months and completing his doctoral exam in 1909. In 1910, he obtained his PhD from Leiden University with

Cornelis van Vollenhoven Cornelis van Vollenhoven (8 May 1874, Dordrecht – 29 April 1933, Leiden) was a Dutch law professor and legal scholar, best known for his work on the legal systems of the East Indies. Cornelis van Vollenhoven began his university studies at ...

as his mentor. His thesis was focused on the Tropical-Colonial State Household. His dissertation described how the Indian population appeared to respond differently to economic incentives compared to Western populations. His brother Jan Boeke became a professor of anatomy at the University of Utrecht.

Dutch East Indies

On 1 September 1910 he traveled to the

with duties to-be-determined by the Governor-General, ultimately finding a position at the General Secretariat. He worked there for a few months, after which he transferred to the Gymnasium Willem III 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 ...

. He taught state design and economics. He was assigned a position as acting adviser for the Volkskredietwezen in 1914. In 1919, he was promoted to become an adviser. This was the highest position at the Volkskredietwezen at the time. He received a full professorship of colonial economics at the Nederlandsche Handels-Hoogeschool, and was offered a special professorship of tropical colonial economics at Leiden University. He was offered a chair at the Law School in 1924, assigned to the instruction of household economics and statistics. He gave his first lectures during the academic year 1926-1927. The following year he traveled to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, and then returned to 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 ...

. In 1929, Leiden University again offered him a professorship, which he accepted. He taught

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

economics. The year before, he argued during his inaugural lecture for the introduction of a dualistic economic system in the

. He contended that Western economy theory was not applicable to

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

n village communities. He focused on the economic sciences and he expanded his research to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and

. In 1940, he published ''Indian Economics'' (re-titled ''Economy of Indonesia'' in 1951).

Imprisonment, postwar scholarship

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 opposin ...

, Boeke took part in the

resistance. In 1941, he published his work ''National Socialist State Household'', which criticized the

National Socialist 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 Na ...

Movement. As a result, he was fired and deported to

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

Concentration Camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

. He survived the war and was reappointed as professor. He returned to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, to help with the reconstruction of the

University of Indonesia The University of Indonesia ( id, Universitas Indonesia, abbreviated as UI) is a public university in Depok, West Java and Salemba, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is one of the oldest tertiary-level educational institutions in Indonesia (known as the Dut ...

, but an accident required his return to

, as well as a period of convalescence. He ultimately resumed his activities at

. During academic year 1951-1952 he held the position of

rector magnificus A rector (Latin for 'ruler') is a senior official in an educational institution, and can refer to an official in either a university or a secondary school. Outside the English-speaking world the rector is often the most senior official in a un ...

. He officially retired in 1955 to take a new teaching assignment. He died on 9 January 1956 after a brief illness.

Works

* ''Tropisch-koloniale staathuishoudkunde. Het probleem''. Amsterdam 1910 * ''Coöperatie in Britsch-Indië''. Weltevreden 1929 * ''Dualistische economie''. Leiden 1930 * ''Crediet-coöperatie Boemipoetera''. Batavia 1931 * ''Les Indes Néerlandaises et la crise''. Brussel 1933 * ''Dorp en desa''. Leiden 1934 * ''Indische economie''. Haarlem 1940, 1947 * ''The structure of Netherlands Indian economy''. New York 1942, 1946. 1983 * ''The evolution of the Netherlands Indies economy''. New York 1946 * ''Oosterse economie''. Den Haag 1946, 1955 * ''The interests of the voiceless Far East : introduction to oriental economics''. Leiden 1948 * ''Ontwikkelingsgang en toekomst van bevolkings- en ondernemingslandbouw in Nederlands-Indië''. Leiden 1948 * ''Agrarische hervormingen in het verre Oosten''. Amsterdam 1951 * ''Economie van Indonesië''. Haarlem, 3. druk. 1951; 4. druk. 1953, 5. druk. 1955 * ''Economics and economic policy of dual societies, as exemplified by Indonesia''. Haarlem 1953 * ''Western influence on the growth of Eastern population''. Geneve 1954

References

Sources

* L. G. M. Jaquet: ''Boeke, Julius Herman (1884–1956).'' In: ''Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland.'' (BWN) Den Haag, 1979,
Online
* J. H. A. Logemann: ''Levensbericht J. H. Boeke.'' In: ''Jaarboek der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, 1956–1957.'' Amsterdam, Blz. 244–252
Online
* Profiel o
Leidse hoogleraren
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boeke, Julius Herman 1884 births 1956 deaths Dutch legal scholars Dutch economists People from Zaanstad University of Amsterdam alumni Leiden University alumni Academic staff of Erasmus University Rotterdam Academic staff of Leiden University Buchenwald concentration camp survivors Rectors of universities in the Netherlands