Wilhelm Friedrich "Gaius" de Gaay Fortman (8 May 1911 – 29 March 1997) was a Dutch jurist and politician of the

Anti-Revolutionary Party The Anti-Revolutionary Party ( nl, Anti-Revolutionaire Partij, ARP) was a Protestant conservative and Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1879 by Abraham Kuyper, a neo-Calvinist theologian and mi ...

(ARP), which later merged into the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolution ...

(CDA) party. De Gaay Fortman attended a Gymnasium 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 R ...

from June 1923 until September 1925 and the Amsterdams Lyceum from September 1925 until July 1929 and applied at the Free University Amsterdam in July 1929 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 vario ...

and obtaining a

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 1930 before graduating with a

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 1933 and worked as a researcher at the Free University Amsterdam from 5 July 1933 until 12 June 1936 when he got a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

as an

Doctor of Law A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL ...

on 12 June 1936. De Gaay Fortman worked as a civil servant from April 1934 until January 1947 for the department of Agricultural Emergency Management of the Ministry of Economic Affairs from April 1934 until September 1935 and for the department of Legal Affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries from September 1935 until February 1938 and for the department of Employment Insurances of the

Ministry of Social Affairs A Ministry of Social Affairs or Department of Social Affairs is the common name for a government department found in states where the government is divided into ministries or departments. While there is some variation in the responsibilities of ...

from February 1938 until January 1947 and as Deputy Director-General of the department for Employment Insurances from April 1939 until August 1943 and as Director-General of the department for Employment Insurances from August 1943 until January 1947. On 10 May 1940

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

invaded the Netherlands and the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

fled to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to escape the German occupation. During the German occupation De Gaay Fortman continued his work for the Ministry of Social Affairs and but sympathetic with the Dutch resistance against the German occupiers and worked as an editor for the

underground newspaper The terms underground press or clandestine press refer to periodicals and publications that are produced without official approval, illegally or against the wishes of a dominant (governmental, religious, or institutional) group. In specific rec ...

'' Free Netherlands'' from January 1943 until May 1945. De Gaay Fortman worked as professor of Labour law, Privacy law and Property law at the Free University Amsterdam from 10 January 1947 until May 1973. He also served as Rector Magnificus of the Free University Amsterdam from 1 January 1961 until 1 January 1962 and from 1 January 1965 until 1 January 1972. De Gaay Fortman was elected as a Member of the Senate after the Senate election of 1960, taking office on 20 September 1960. After the Senate election of 1971 De Gaay Fortman was selected as

Parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. They are their ...

of Anti-Revolutionary Party in the Senate, taking office on 11 May 1971. After the election of 1972 De Gaay Fortman was appointed as Minister of the Interior and Minister for Suriname and Netherlands Antilles Affairs in the Cabinet Den Uyl, taking office on 19 December 1977. In March 1977 Gaius de Gaay Fortman announced that he would not stand for the election of 1977 but wanted tot return to the Senate. Following the resignation of

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

and

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 ...

Dries van Agt Andreas Antonius Maria "Dries" van Agt (; born 2 February 1931) is a Dutch politician and diplomat of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) and later the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of t ...

De Gaay Fortman took over both positions on 8 September 1977. The Cabinet Den Uyl was replaced by the Cabinet Van Agt–Wiegel on 19 December 1977. De Gaay Fortman remained in active politics, he was elected again as a Member of the Senate after the Senate election of 1977, serving from 20 September 1977 until 10 June 1981. De Gaay Fortman was selected as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

and dual served in those positions from 13 March 1978 until 15 July 1979. Following the end of his active political career, De Gaay Fortman returned as a professor of privacy law, labor law and administrative law at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, serving from 20 December 1977 until 10 February 1979. After his retirement De Gaay Fortman occupied numerous seats as a nonprofit director for supervisory boards for non-governmental organizations and research institutes ( Organisation for Scientific Research, Institute of International Relations Clingendael,

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 wor ...

, T.M.C. Asser Instituut and the Carnegie Foundation). De Gaay Fortman was known for his abilities as a negotiator and consensus builder. De Gaay Fortman continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until his death. His eldest son Bas de Gaay Fortman was also a politician, professor and author, he like his father had served in the Senate.

Biography

Early life

Wilhelm Friedrich "Gaius" de Gaay Fortman was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

on 8 May 1911 to an orthodox

Reformed Protestant Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calv ...

family. The De Gaay Fortman family were descendants of 17th century Walloon immigrant Jacques Le Gay, and became one of the foremost Neo-Calvinist families in the Dutch Patriciate, with prominent ministers, scholars, business people and politicians.

Politics

The Reformed De Gaay Fortman was a progressive politician of the

, the party which later merged with other Christian parties to form the

politician. He was a Public servant, secretary of the government labour negotiation team and a teacher at the CNV-school (Christian Labour Union). Later he became a professor at the

Vrije Universiteit The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...

and its Rector Magnificus. In 1956 he was unsuccessful as informateur during the long 1956 cabinet formation. However, he was able in 1960 to quickly resolve a cabinet crisis. In 1973 he, together with Boersma, were persuaded to become a minister in the Cabinet Den Uyl. He had a good relationship with the formerly Reformed social-democrat party leader

Joop den Uyl Johannes Marten den Uijl, better known as Joop den Uyl (; 9 August 1919 – 24 December 1987) was a Dutch politician and economist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1973 to 1977. He was a member of the Labour Party (PvdA). ...

. As Minister of Home Affairs he proposed a plan to divide the Netherlands into 24 mini-provinces and he played a key role in the independence negotiations for Suriname in 1975. In 1981 he again acted in a cabinet formation as informateur and managed to pave the way for a government of CDA, PvdA and D66. De Gaay Fortman was in favor of co-operation of the ARP and later the CDA with the PvdA (left). He refuted offered positions in Christian Democrat – Liberal coalitions. De Gaay Fortman became a member of the CDA, but he became alienated from the party mainstream. In his view the CDA too much emphasised policies that resulted in the dismantling of social security. In the parliamentary elections of 1994 he endorsed Gert Schutte, the leader of the Reformed Political League. He is buried at Zorgvlied cemetery. His son Bas de Gaay Fortman followed in the political footsteps of his father and became leader of the

Political Party of Radicals The Political Party of Radicals ( nl, Politieke Partij Radikalen, PPR) was a progressive Christian and green political party in the Netherlands. The PPR played a relatively small role in Dutch politics and merged with other left-wing parties to ...

in the Second Chamber and later a Senator for its successor, the GreenLeft party.

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
Mr.Dr. W.F. de Gaay Fortman
Parlement & Politiek *
Mr.Dr. W.F. de Gaay Fortman (CDA)
Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaay Fortman, Gaius de 1911 births 1997 deaths Anti-Revolutionary Party MEPs Christian Democratic Appeal politicians Commanders of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Deputy Prime Ministers of the Netherlands Dutch academic administrators Dutch legal scholars Dutch legal writers Dutch magazine editors Dutch newspaper editors Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch nonprofit executives Dutch people of Walloon descent Dutch people of World War II Grand Officers of the Order of Leopold II Grand Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Honorary Order of the Yellow Star Labour law scholars Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the Senate (Netherlands) Ministers of Kingdom Relations of the Netherlands Ministers of Justice of the Netherlands Ministers of the Interior of the Netherlands MEPs for the Netherlands 1958–1979 Politicians from Amsterdam People from Dordrecht Politicians from The Hague Rectors of universities in the Netherlands Recipients of the Order of the House of Orange Reformed Churches Christians from the Netherlands Scholars of administrative law Scholars of privacy law Scholars of property law Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam faculty Writers from Amsterdam Writers from The Hague 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch educators 20th-century Dutch jurists 20th-century Dutch male writers 20th-century Dutch politicians Members of the European Commission of Human Rights