Willy Kruyt ( John William Kruyt; 8 September 1877 – July 1943) was a Dutch Protestant minister and

Christian socialist A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words ''Christ'' and ''Chr ...

, later

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

, politician.

Background

The son of a Dutch publisher and his Scottish wife, Kruyt studied

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 ...

at Utrecht and joined the

League of Christian Socialists The League of Christian Socialists (, or BCS) was a Dutch Christian socialist political party. Party history The BCS was founded in 1907. In the 1918 elections, the first election with a system of proportional representation and male universal ...

in 1910.

Early political career

In 1913, he was elected chairman of this party; in

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

, he became its only member of 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 same period, he worked as a

Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...

minister at

Gennep Gennep () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in upper southeastern Netherlands. It lies in the very northern part of the province of Limburg, Netherlands, Limburg, 18 km south of Nijmegen. Furthermore, it lies on the ...

. He formed an alliance with

Willem van Ravesteyn Willem van Ravesteyn (15 October 1876 in Rotterdam – 10 June 1970 in Rotterdam) was a Dutch people, Dutch Communist politician and historian. Ravesteyn studied history at the University of Leiden and was involved in setting up the local branch ...

and

David Wijnkoop David Joseph Wijnkoop (; 11 March 1876 – 7 May 1941) was a Dutch people, Dutch Communism, communist leader in the first half of the twentieth century. Life He was the eldest son of Rabbi Joseph Wijnkoop and Dientje Milia Nijburg. At the Bar ...

, the two representatives from the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

as well as

Harm Kolthek Harm Kolthek Jr. (1872-1946) was a Dutch printer, journalist, trade unionist and libertarian socialist politician. Kolthek led the syndicalist federation of trade unions, the National Labor Secretariat (NAS), from 1907 to 1913. He later founded ...

. When, in 1921, the League had disintegrated due to factional struggles between orthodox Protestants and

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state w ...

, Kruyt joined the Communist Party. He stood as a Communist candidate for the

1922 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1922. Africa * 1922 Southern Rhodesian government referendum Asia * 1922 Philippine House of Representatives elections * 1922 Philippine Senate elections * 1922 Philippine legislative election Europe ...

, but was not re-elected.

Later career

Following his wife's death, Kruyt emigrated to Berlin where he joined

Workers International Relief The Workers International Relief (WIR) — also known as Internationale Arbeiter-Hilfe (IAH) in German and as Международная рабочая помощь (Mezhdunarodny Rabochy Komitet Pomoshchi Golodayushchim Rossii − Mezhrabpom) in R ...

, then to Moscow in 1935 (presumably fleeing from the Nazis) to work at the Lenin State Library. Dissatisfied with

Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...

, he trained as a

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ''e ...

in the hopes of getting back to the Netherlands this way. From England, he parachuted into Belgium in June 1942 with the help of SOE.Разведка и контрразведка в лицах, Энциклопедический словарь российских спецслужб: КРУЙТ Ян Вильгельм
/ref> He broke his leg and was arrested by the German occupiers who detained him at

Fort Breendonk Fort Breendonk (, ) is a former military installation at Breendonk, near Mechelen, Belgium, which served as a Nazi prison camp (''Auffanglager'') during the German occupation of Belgium during World War II. Originally constructed between 1906 ...

Death

Kruyt was tortured and deported to the

Moabit Moabit () is an inner city locality in the boroughs of Berlin, borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2022, about 84,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial sector, industr ...

prison in Berlin where he is thought to have been

executed by firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French , rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are usually re ...

in July 1943.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kruyt, Willy 1877 births 1943 deaths 20th-century Dutch Calvinist and Reformed ministers Dutch communists Dutch socialists Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Dutch people of Scottish descent Clergy from Amsterdam Dutch resistance members Dutch prisoners of war in World War II Breendonk prison camp prisoners Dutch people executed by Nazi Germany Politicians from Amsterdam Dutch people executed abroad Special Operations Executive personnel killed in World War II Communists executed by Nazi Germany