Jacobus Albertus Wilhelmus "Jaap" Burger (20 August 1904 – 19 August 1986) was a Dutch politician of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) and later co-founder of the Labour Party (PvdA) and jurist. He was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 4 January 1975.

Early life and education

Burger attended a Gymnasium in Rotterdam from April 1917 until May 1923 and applied at the University of Amsterdam in July 1923 majoring in

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...

and obtaining an

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 Ch ...

degree in June 1925 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 1929. Burger worked as a lawyer in

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after Ro ...

from October 1929 until December 1942. On 10 May 1940 Nazi Germany

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 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 ...

. Burger joined the Dutch resistance against the German occupiers in August 1942. In January 1943 Burger escaped the

to England. Burger worked as political advisor for Minister of Social Affairs Jan van den Tempel from February 1943 until August 1943.

Political career

Burger was appointed as Minister for Return Policy in the Cabinet Gerbrandy II by

Queen Wilhelmina Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World War ...

, taking office on 11 August 1943. Burger was appointed as

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

following the resignation of Hendrik van Boeijen, taking office on 31 May 1944. On 27 January 1945 Burger was forced to

resign Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

by Prime Minister

Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy (born Pieter Gerbrandij; 13 April 1885 – 7 September 1961) was a Dutch politician and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 3 September 1940 until 25 June 1945. He oversaw the government-in-exile ...

following an

impromptu An impromptu (, , loosely meaning "offhand") is a free-form musical composition with the character of an ''ex tempore'' improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano. According to ''Allgeme ...

remark during a radio address where he differentiated between "wrongful" Dutch civilians (''foute Nederlanders'') and Dutch civilians who made a mistake (''Nederlanders die een fout hebben gemaakt'') during the War, but because Prime Minister Gerbrandy did not discuss this with rest of the

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 * Filin ...

all Social Democratic Workers' Party cabinet members resigned in response and the cabinet continued to serve in a demissionary capacity. Following the end of World War II Queen Wilhelmina ordered a

Recall of Parliament A recall of Parliament is a parliamentary procedure involving an extraordinary sitting of a parliament, occurring outside the time when that parliament would usually meet, such as over a weekend, or when the parliament would normally be in recess. ...

and Burger was appointment as a Member of the House of Representatives taking the place of the deceased Theo van der Waerden, taking office on 20 November 1945 serving as a

frontbencher In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then kn ...

and spokesperson for the Interior and the '' de facto''

Whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally ...

. On 9 February 1946 the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP), the

Free-thinking Democratic League The Free-thinking Democratic League ( nl, Vrijzinnig Democratische Bond, VDB) was a progressive liberal political party in the Netherlands. Established in 1901, it played a relatively large role in Dutch politics, supplying one Prime Minister, W ...

(VDB) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) choose to merge in a political alliance to form the Labour Party (PvdA), with Burger as one of the co-founders he became one of the unofficial Deputy Leaders of the Labour Party. Burger also became active in the public sector and worked as media administrator for the

public broadcaster Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

VARA Vara or VARA may refer to: Geography *Vara (river), in Liguria, Italy * Vara Parish, former municipality in Tartu County, Estonia * Vara, Estonia, village in Peipsiääre Parish, Tartu County, Estonia *Vara Municipality, municipality in western Sw ...

'' serving as Chairman of the Supervisory board from 12 February 1949 until 20 December 1966. After the Parliamentary leader of the Labour Party in the House of Representatives

Marinus van der Goes van Naters Marinus van der Goes van Naters (21 December 1900 – 12 February 2005) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) and later the Labour Party (PvdA) and lawyer. Background and early career He was born in Ni ...

announced he was stepping down as Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives following a conflict with Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party

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, ...

the Labour Party leadership approached

Leendert Antonie Donker Leendert Antonie Donker (7 September 1899 in Almkerk – 4 February 1956 in Rotterdam) was a Dutch politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians ...

as his successor but the day before he took office Parliamentary leader-designate Donker took a leave of absence for health reasons and the Labour Party leadership approached Burger as interim Parliamentary leader, serving from 16 January 1951 until 18 September 1951. After the election of 1952 Donker was appointed as

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in ...

in the Cabinet Drees II and the Labour Party leadership approached Burger as Parliamentary leader, taking office on 2 September 1952. Burger also served as President of the Benelux Parliament from 1 January 1958 until 1 January 1959. On 11 December 1958 the Cabinet Drees III fell and incumbent Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party

Drees Drees is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Kelberg, whose sea ...

announced his retirement from national politics and that he wouldn't stand for the election of 1959, the Labour Party leadership approached Burger as his successor, Burger accepted and became the Leader and one of the '' Lijsttrekkers'', taking office on 22 December 1958. The Labour Party suffered a small loss, losing 2 seats and fell back as the second largest party and now had 48 seats in the House of Representatives. On 16 September 1962 Burger announced that he was stepping down as Leader and Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives following increasing criticism on his leadership. Burger remained in active in national politics, he was elected as a Member of the Senate after the Senate election of 1963, taking office on 5 June 1963 serving as a frontbencher and spokesperson for Defence and deputy spokesperson for

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy a ...

European Affairs Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and NATO. Burger was selected as a Member of the European Parliament and dual served in those positions, taking office on 20 October 1966. After the Delegation leader of the Labour Party in the European Parliament Van der Goes van Naters resigned Burger was appointed as Delegation leader, taking office on 7 May 1967. Burger was nominated as a Member of the Council of State, serving from 1 October 1970 until 1 September 1979. After his retirement Burger occupied numerous seats as a nonprofit director for supervisory boards for several international non-governmental organizations and research institutes ( International Institute of Social History,

Transnational Institute The Transnational Institute (TNI), is an international non-profit research and advocacy think tank that was founded in 1974, Amsterdam, Netherlands. According to their website, the organization promotes a "... just, democratic and sustainable ...

Royal Netherlands Historical Society The Royal Netherlands Historical Society ( nl, Koninklijk Nederlands Historisch Genootschap, or KNHG), founded 1845 under the name Historisch Gezelschap, is a historical society that also functions as a professional association of academic histori ...

, Netherlands Atlantic Association and the Rijksmuseum) and as an advocate and lobbyist for

European integration European integration is the process of industrial, economic, political, legal, social, and cultural integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integration has primarily come about through the European Union and it ...

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: ...

cooperation and serving on several commissions for the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

and state commissions on behalf of the Dutch government.

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
Mr. J.A.W. (Jaap) Burger
Parlement & Politiek *
Mr. J.A.W. Burger (PvdA)
Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal {{DEFAULTSORT:Burger, Jaap 1904 births 1986 deaths Commanders of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Dutch expatriates in Belgium Dutch expatriates in England Dutch lobbyists Dutch members of the Dutch Reformed Church Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch nonprofit executives Dutch officials of the European Union Dutch public broadcasting administrators Dutch political party founders Dutch resistance members Engelandvaarders European Union lobbyists Grand Crosses of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Grand Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau Labour Party (Netherlands) MEPs Labour Party (Netherlands) politicians Leaders of the Labour Party (Netherlands) Members of the Council of State (Netherlands) Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Members of the Senate (Netherlands) MEPs for the Netherlands 1958–1979 Ministers of the Interior of the Netherlands Ministers of State (Netherlands) Ministers without portfolio of the Netherlands People from Dordrecht People from Moerdijk Recipients of the Bronze Cross (Netherlands) Recipients of the Order of the House of Orange Recipients of the Resistance Memorial Cross Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands) politicians University of Amsterdam alumni 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch lawyers 20th-century Dutch jurists 20th-century Dutch politicians