Nicolaas Wilhelmus Posthumus or N.W. Posthumus (26 February 1880 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 ...
– 18 April 1960 in
Bussum
Bussum () is a commuter town and former municipality in the Gooi region in the south east of the province of North Holland in the Netherlands near Hilversum. Since 2016, Bussum has been part of the new municipality of Gooise Meren.
Bussum had a ...
) 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 ...
economic historian
Economic history is the academic learning of economies or economic events of the past. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of economic theory to historical situations and inst ...
,
political scientist
Political science is the science, scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of politics, political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated c ...
, and professor at
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humanist ...
.
Posthumus was one of the founders of both the
International Institute of Social History
The International Institute of Social History (IISH/IISG) is one of the largest archives of labor and social history in the world. Located in Amsterdam, its one million volumes and 2,300 archival collections include the papers of major figur ...
in Amsterdam and the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences 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 ...
.
Biography
Posthumus was born as the son of
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
teacher Nicolaas Wilhelmus Posthumus and Huibertje IJzerman. He graduated high school and began studying at the University of Amsterdam in 1898. From March to October 1901, he was
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
of the satirical student magazine
Propria Cures. In 1908 he graduated with a Doctorate of Public Sciences, writing his dissertation on the "History of the Leidsche sheet industry".
After graduation, Posthumus studied a few years of
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
and
trade law
International trade law includes the appropriate rules and customs for handling trade between countries. However, it is also used in legal writings as trade between private sectors. This branch of law is now an independent field of study as mo ...
at the municipal trade school in Amsterdam. In 1913, he became a
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
of economic history at the
Netherlands School of Commerce in Rotterdam. In 1915, he founded and published the
Economisch-Historisch Jaarboek—a yearly collection of
primary source documents
In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...
and empirical analysis of Dutch merchant records.
In 1918-1919 he succeeded Gijsbert Weijer Jan Bruins as ''
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 ...
'' of the university. In 1922 he was appointed as a lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy in Amsterdam, and in 1932 he founded the Economic Historical Library.
Following the
rise of the Nazi party in Germany, Posthumus founded the
International Institute of Social History
The International Institute of Social History (IISH/IISG) is one of the largest archives of labor and social history in the world. Located in Amsterdam, its one million volumes and 2,300 archival collections include the papers of major figur ...
in 1935 as a place to retain
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
documents and histories safe from 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 ...
regime and other governments which might exert control over them.
When Germany invaded
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 ...
the activities of the institute were disrupted. He was dismissed in 1942 by the government of the
occupied Netherlands and returned to his post only following the war. During the war he managed to publish ''Inquiry into the History of Prices in Holland. Vol. i'', an exhaustive empirical study of market prices and rates of exchange 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 the 16th century until the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, made within the
International scientific committee on price history The International scientific committee on price history was created in 1929 by William Beveridge and Edwin Francis Gay thanks to a five-years grant of the Rockefeller Foundation. The national representatives were William Beveridge for Great Britain, ...
. The work was favorably received and remains his most widely cited to date.
After the war he wrote a history of the German occupation of the Netherlands entitled ''The Netherlands During German Occupation''. He worked with various institutes, including the
Dutch Institute for War Documentation and held a full professorship in Economic and Social Sciences 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 ...
until 1949, when he resigned to head the
Brill publishing house.
The
N.W. Posthumus Instituut, a graduate research facility in economics at the
University of Groningen
The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...
, was founded in 1988 in his honor.
In 1929 Posthumus became member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
, he was forced to resign in 1942. In 1945 he was readmitted as member. From 1946 to 1958, Posthumus was Director of scientific publisher
Brill
Brill may refer to:
Places
* Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands
* Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England
* Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK
* Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...
. From 1 January 1949 to his death, Posthumus was chairman of the
Dutch Economic Historical Archive, which he founded in 1913.
On 20 July 1908 Posthumus married Marcel Dorothea van Loon, with whom he a daughter and a son. He divorced her in 1928. On 7 January 1931 Posthumus married his second wife
Willemijn van der Goot, a
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
and the first Dutch woman to earn a doctorate in economics. They had one child, Claire, in Amsterdam in 1938, shortly before moving to
Noordwijk aan Zee
Noordwijk () is a town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water and had a population of in .
On 1 January 2019, the former municipality of Noordwij ...
and later
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 ...
for the duration 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 ...
.
During the war, he and his family helped relocate Jewish children from Amsterdam to foster families. He and Willy cared for a child, Bertha Eveline Koster, in their own home from 1943 to 1945. Posthumus, Van der Goot, and sister-in-law Diaz-van der Goot received the "
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...
" recognition.
Posthumus and Van der Goot separated in 1950.
Notes
External links
*
Nicolaas Wilhelmus Posthumusat
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Posthumus, Nicolaas Wilhelmus
1880 births
1960 deaths
20th-century Dutch historians
Dutch political scientists
Economic historians
Writers from Amsterdam
University of Amsterdam alumni
Academic staff of Erasmus University Rotterdam
Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Dutch Righteous Among the Nations
20th-century political scientists