Eduard Carl Fimmen (18 June 1881,

Nieuwer-Amstel Amstelveen () is a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, with a population of 95,996 as of 202 ...

– 14 December 1942,

Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; , "near the woods" , Otomi language, Otomi: ) is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state, state of Morelos in Mexico. Along with Chalcatzingo, it is likely one of the origins of the Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican civilizatio ...

), also known as Edo Fimmen, was a Dutch

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist.

Early life

Fimmen was born in

on 18 June 1881. His father was a merchant, Eduard Hermann Johann Fimmen, and his mother was Therese Ansoul. They were both of German origin. He married Julie Lucie Cornelia (Nelly) Michen on 18 January 1906, and they were to have a daughter and son. In December he met the German journalist Alida Kammerer by whom he had two daughters while remaining married to his wife. From 1894 to 1899, Fimmen attended the Amsterdam Trade Public School (1894–1899). Fimmen, developed a talent for languages, writing and speaking French, German and English fluently. He was able to earn money as a translator following his father's death when he was sixteen. Following a tour of duty in the Dutch Army he was drawn to the

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

, through Christian commitment rather than a liking of military organisation. After meeting Lodewijk van Mierop, a member of the

Dutch Reformed church The Dutch Reformed Church (, , abbreviated NHK ) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the traditional denomination of the Dutch royal famil ...

and Menno Huizinga, a

baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

- both

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

students - he became involved in a Christian Anarchist magazine ''Vrede'' (peace) and the Rein Leven Movement, having his letters published under the pseudonym ''Edo''. The group brought together young men of varying backgrounds, in term of education, employment, knowledge and faith, but who shared a desire for complete purity of body and soul. Fimmen and Huizinga were principle editors to this group and fimmen devoted his spare time from 1901 - 1908 to the group. In particular they agitated against

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

. For most of this period he chaired the Amsterdam meetings and bi-annual conferences. However, from 1905 disagreements arose over "free" and "bourgeois" marriages. By 1908 Fimmen was amongst a group who considered the movement as no longer

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

and after rowing with Meirop he left. Fimmen had also been active in the Society for the Suppression of the Neo-Malthusian using the names Nel Jaccard and Edo for articles in ''Tegen Leugen en Geweld'' (Against Lies and Violence), edited by Van Mierop. He translated material from the Conference of International Anti-militarist League (26–28 June 1904) held in Amsterdam. Encouraged by Domela Nieuwenhuis he chaired the last day of the conference where the Christian anarchists - as socialists, Christians and revolutionaries - advocated

Conscientious objection A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

and a general strike in the event of war.

Trade unionism

Fimmen worked as a clerk, probably for the American Petroleum Company and during the 1903 strike joined the National Union of Commercial and Office Employees. Allied to G L Niermeyer, he was elected secretary. He was then obliged to give up his job, and supported himself through translation work for J. C. Dalmeyer. On 22 October 1905 he was one of the founder members of the General Dutch Union of Trade and Office Workers. He was the treasurer from 1905 to 1907, and then Secretary from 1907 - 1916. He also edited ''Onze Strijd'' (Our Struggle) from 1909 - 1916. They successfully campaigned for equal pay for men and women in 1909. From 1919 to 1942, Fimmen served as General Secretary of the

International Transport Workers' Federation The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) is a democratic global union federation of transport workers' trade unions, founded in 1896. In 2017 the ITF had 677 member organizations in 149 countries, representing a combined membership o ...

Later life

In 1937 he was nominated for the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

by Vladimír Clementis In the early phases 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 ...

in Europe, he organized couriers for Soviet military intelligence and also assisted the British.

Books

Fimmen's Translations into Dutch

From German * ''De kunst van het arbeiden'', Carl Hilty, (1903) * ''Geluk'', Carl Hilty, (1903) From English: * ''Nyria '', Mrs. Campbell Pread, (1904); From the French: * ''Wat volwassen meisjes wel eens mogen weten'', Ch. Burlureaux, (1905),

Books by Fimmen

* ''Labour's Alternative: The United States of Europa or Europe Limited'' (1924) Labour Publishing Company, Londo

Early life

Trade unionism

Later life

Books

Fimmen's Translations into Dutch

Books by Fimmen

See also

References

Further reading