Harm Wiersma - Nationaal Archief - 930-4686

Harm Wiersma (born 13 May 1953 in

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; ; ; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 127,073 (2023). It is the provincial capital and seat of the Provin ...

, Dutch Frisia) is a Dutch

draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; Commonwealth English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve forward movements of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. ...

player and former

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He is a six-time world champion in draughts and former MP.

Biography

In draughts he won his first Dutch championship in 1972, but had been known in the field since age 14. His first world champion title took place in 1976 and his last occurred in 1984. He continued to be important in the game and won the European championship in 1999. He has also written on draughts. His political career was short and troubled. He was strongly impressed with

Pim Fortuyn Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (; 19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, author, civil servant, businessman, sociologist and academic who founded the party Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) in ...

and in a 2003 interview compared him to

Desiderius Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

.Elke dag weer simultaan op het Binnenhof
, ''

de Volkskrant ''De Volkskrant'' (; ), stylized as de Volkskrant, is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium- ...

'', 5 October 2002 Hence he became one of 26 members of the

Pim Fortuyn List The Pim Fortuyn List (, LPF) was a political party in the Netherlands that existed from 2002 to 2008 at a national level and was named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was ...

elected in 2002 with his main concern being Eastern Europe and sports. Harm Wiersma has worked with Eastern European companies. His son Joeri Wiersma who studied Governmentmanagement at the Thorbecke Academy worked as his personal assistant and is named after the film doctor Yuri Zhivago written by

Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (30 May 1960) was a Russian and Soviet poet, novelist, composer, and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pasternak's first book of poems, ''My Sister, Life'', was published in Berlin in 1922 and soon became an imp ...

. Later he married a Russian wife and had two daughters. However he left the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

in the following year, 2003, due to difficulties in his municipality. (See LPF article for other difficulties that might have played a role) This exit, combined with his being a draughts player, has led to the pun that he is a "Dutch politician with a checkered past."

Bibliography

* ''Dam Miniaturen'' (1977), book about draughts

References

External links

Pictures, several are of him

Harm Wiersma's website
*
Parlement.com biography
1953 births Living people Dutch draughts players Players of international draughts Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Sportspeople from Leeuwarden Pim Fortuyn List politicians Dutch sportsperson-politicians {{Netherlands-politician-stub