Severinus Desiré "Freek" Emanuels (27 February 1910 – 27 August 1981) was a Dutch politician, and

Prime Minister of Suriname This article lists the prime ministers of Suriname from 1949 to 1988. In 1988 the position of Prime Minister of Suriname was abolished and replaced by a Vice President of Suriname, vice president, who chairs the Council of Ministers ex officio. ...

from 25 June 1958 to 30 June 1963.

Biography

Emanuels was born in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

on 27 February 1910. He studied law at the

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public university, public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of ...

. From 1934 to 1950, he worked as a judge in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

, and its successor

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. In 1948, he was an advisor for the Federal Conference of

Bandung Bandung is the capital city of the West Java province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, the city is the List of Indonesian cities by population, fourth-most populous city and fourth largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabay ...

. Between 1952 and 1955, he served as Surinamese

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

in the

Currie Currie is a village and suburb on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland, situated south west of the city centre. Formerly within the County of Midlothian, it now falls within the jurisdiction of the City of Edinburgh Council. It is situated be ...

government. In 1958, he was working for the Dutch embassy in Washington, D.C.

Formateur A formateur (French for "someone who forms, who constitutes") is a politician who is appointed to lead the formation of a coalition government, after either a general election or the collapse of a previous government. The role of the formateur i ...

Johan Adolf Pengel asked Emanuels to lead a government which he accepted, and he arrived in Suriname on 14 July 1958. He served as Prime Minister of

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

from 1958 to 1963. In September 1959, he asked the

States General of the Netherlands The States General of the Netherlands ( ) is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate (Netherlands), Senate () and the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of R ...

to boycott South Africa which was denied, however Suriname was permitted to implement their own trade boycott. In 1961, his government unsuccessfully tried to negotiate more autonomy for Suriname. In 1963, Emanuels was succeeded by Pengel, and appointed Minister Plenipotentiary of Suriname. In 1965, he returned to the Dutch

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

. He retired in 1976. Emanuels died on 27 August 1981 in The Hague, at the age of 71.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emanuels, Severinus Desire 1910 births 1981 deaths National Party of Suriname politicians Politicians from Rotterdam Prime ministers of Suriname Finance ministers of Suriname Utrecht University alumni Dutch diplomats Ministers plenipotentiary (Suriname)