Benjamin Marius Telders (19 March 1903 – 6 April 1945) was a professor of 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 ...

. He is known for standing up for his belief in the rule of law and civil society during the German Occupation. From 1938 he became involved in Dutch politics; he was party chairman of the

Liberal State Party The Liberal State Party, "the Freedom League" ( nl, Liberale Staatspartij "de Vrijheidsbond", LSP), was a conservative liberal political party in the Netherlands from 1921 to 1948. It is historically linked to the People's Party for Freedom and ...

from 1938–1945.

Rudolph Cleveringa Rudolph Pabus Cleveringa (2 April 1894, Appingedam, Netherlands – 15 December 1980, Oegstgeest, Netherlands) was a professor of law at Leiden University. He is known for his speech of 26 November 1940, in which he protested against the dismissa ...

and Telders led the resistance to a declaration requiring the dismissal of 'non-Aryan' staff that all professors were told to sign in October 1940. He was arrested that December and imprisoned in

Scheveningen Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (''wijk'') of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is po ...

. He died of typhus in

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concent ...

shortly before the end of the war. He was awarded the

Dutch Cross of Resistance The Verzetskruis 1940–1945 (English: ''Cross of Resistance 1940–1945'') is a decoration for valour in the Netherlands. Instituted on May 3, 1946, it was awarded in recognition of the individual courage shown in resistance against the ...

on 9 May 1946 (posthumously). Telders Students Society of International Law, the Telders Foundation, and the Telders International Law Moot Court Competition are named after him.

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in

Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland The ''Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland'' (BWN) is a Dutch biographical dictionary, in which short biographies of well-known and less well-known but still notable Dutch people are listed. The BWN is the successor to the ''Nieuw Nederlandsch ...

*Erades, L. (1955). B. M. Telders (1903–1945). Nederlands Tijdschrift Voor Internationaal Recht, 2(2), 123–126. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0165070X00034604 {{DEFAULTSORT:Telders, Benjamin Marius 1903 births 1945 deaths Dutch legal scholars Dutch resistance members Recipients of the Dutch Cross of Resistance Leiden University alumni Academic staff of Leiden University Liberal State Party politicians 20th-century Dutch lawyers 20th-century Dutch politicians Dutch people who died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Resistance members who died in Nazi concentration camps Politicians who died in Nazi concentration camps Deaths from typhus