Antoon Arnold Marie "Teun" Struycken (27 December 1906 – 1 December 1977) was a Dutch jurist and politician, co-founder of the

Catholic People's Party The Catholic People's Party (, KVP) was a Roman Catholicism in the Netherlands, Catholic Christian democracy, Christian democratic list of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1945 as ...

(KVP). Struycken worked as a lawyer in

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

from 1932 until 1939 and served as an

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

in Breda from 1939 until 1941. Struycken worked as a jurist for the '' Algemene Kunstzijde Unie'' from 1941 until 1942. On 4 May 1942 Struycken was arrested and detained in Kamp Sint-Michielsgestel and was released on 21 January 1944. Following the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Struycken returned as Alderman in Breda from 1945 until 1950. Struycken 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 a ...

in the

Drees–Van Schaik cabinet The Drees–Van Schaik cabinet of the Netherlands, cabinet, also called the First Drees cabinet was the Executive (government), executive branch of the Politics of the Netherlands, Dutch Government from 7 August 1948 until 15 March 1951. The cab ...

following the resignation of René Wijers, taking office on 10 July 1950. The Drees–Van Schaik cabinet fell on 24 January 1951 and continued to serve in a

demissionary A demissionary cabinet () is a type of caretaker government, caretaker cabinet of the Netherlands, cabinet or provisional government in the politics of the Netherlands, Netherlands. Overview The Dutch demissionary cabinet continues the current g ...

capacity. Following the cabinet formation of 1951, after which the Drees–Van Schaik cabinet was replaced by the Drees I cabinet on 15 March, Struycken was not given a ministerial post in the new cabinet. In March 1951 Struycken was appointed

Governor of the Netherlands Antilles The governor of the Netherlands Antilles was the representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Netherlands Antilles and the head of the government of the Netherlands Antilles. Duties With the introduction of the Charter for the Kingdom ...

, taking office on 30 March 1951. After the 1956 general election Struycken was appointed as

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

and Minister of the Interior, Property and Public Sector Organisations in the Drees III cabinet, taking office on 29 October 1956. The Drees III cabinet fell on 11 December 1958 after the Catholic People's Party and the Labour Party (PvdA) disagreed on a proposed tax increase and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity until it was replaced by caretaker Beel II cabinet, with Struycken continuing as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, Property and Public Sector Organisations and also taking over as Minister of Justice, taking office on 22 December 1958. In January 1959, Struycken announced that he would not stand for the 1959 general election. Following the 1959 cabinet formation, after which the Beel II cabinet was replaced by the De Quay cabinet on 19 May, Struycken was not given a ministerial post in the new cabinet. In October 1959 he was nominated as member of the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

, taking office on 1 November 1959. The Cals cabinet fell on 14 October 1966 after the Night of Schmelzer and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity until it was replaced by the caretaker Zijlstra cabinet with Struycken again appointed as Minister of Justice, taking office on 22 November 1966.

Biography

Early life

Antoon Arnold Marie Struycken was born on 27 December 1906 in

in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...

in a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

family. Struycken was interred in Kamp Sint-Michielsgestel prison camp during

Politics

He was among others Minister of Justice, Governor of the Netherlands Antilles, Minister of the Interior and a member of the Dutch Council of State. He was also alderman of Breda from 1938 to 1941, and from 1944 to 1950. After the war he was briefly Minister of Justice, in which capacity he commuted the death sentences of the " The Breda Three" (, Ferdinand aus der Fünten, Joseph Kotalla) to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

Governor of the Netherlands Antilles

While Governor of the Netherlands Antilles, Struycken came into conflict with the Council of Ministers of the Netherlands Antilles, who wanted to install S.W. van der Meer as Minister of Justice. Van der Meer, who had his own law practice in Curaçao, did not agree to give up his practice as a lawyer completely, prompting Struycken to refuse to install Van der Meer. The Dutch Antillean government complained to the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands about the governor's inappropriate involvement in government matters. The Netherlands government eventually agreed with the Antillean government. This affair resulted in a reorientation of the office of Governor of the Netherlands Antilles, which increasingly began to resemble the role of the constitutional monarch in the Netherlands.Oostindie and Klinker 2001: 75

Decorations

Bibliography

References

External links

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Mr. A.A.M. (Teun) Struycken
Parlement & Politiek {{DEFAULTSORT:Struycken, Teun 1906 births 1977 deaths Aldermen in North Brabant People from Breda Catholic People's Party politicians Deputy prime ministers of the Netherlands Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch nonprofit executives Dutch Roman Catholics Dutch political party founders Dutch people of World War II Dutch prisoners of war in World War II Governors of the Netherlands Antilles Grand Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Ministers of justice of the Netherlands Ministers of the interior of the Netherlands Members of the Council of State (Netherlands) Members of the Provincial Council of North Brabant Municipal councillors of Breda Politicians from Nijmegen Radboud University Nijmegen alumni Roman Catholic State Party politicians World War II civilian prisoners World War II prisoners of war held by Germany 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch jurists 20th-century Dutch lawyers