Monarch Juliana Name Gerard Helders | Nationality Dutch | |
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Full Name Gerardus Philippus Helders Born March 9, 1905Rotterdam, Netherlands ( 1905-03-09 ) | ||
Gerardus Philippus "Gerard" Helders (March 9, 1905 – January 6, 2013) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Christian Historical Union (CHU) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He served as Minister of Colonial Affairs from February 16, 1957 until May 19, 1959 in the cabinets Drees III and Beel II.
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Early life
Helders was born in Rotterdam. His father worked as a winetrader. From 1925 to 1929 he studied civil law at Leiden University. He married in 1930 and was the father of one son and four daughters.
Politics
Helders started his career as a politician for the Christian Historical Union in the Dutch colony of the Dutch East Indies where he worked as a member of the city council in the cities Bandung and Batavia (nowadays Jakarta). From 1942 until 1945, during which Indonesia was occupied by Japan, Helders was interned. During the 1950s, Helders was for a short time minister of colonial affairs in two governments. In 1957 and 1958 in a government led by prime minister Willem Drees and a second one which was led by Louis Beel. During this period he was responsible for building up a government in the now Indonesian province of New-Guinea. From 1959 to 1975 he was a member of the Council of State of the Netherlands.
Longevity
At the time of his death at the age of 107, he was the oldest living former Dutch politician. As Minister of Colonial Affairs he worked under Prime Minister Willem Drees who himself reached the high age of 101. Helders lived in Wassenaar. For his 105th, 106th and 107th birthday the mayor of Wassenaar visited him, and on each occasion he wrote in his blog that he was surprised that Helders was still in such good health and well aware of current affairs. Helders became the oldest man in the Netherlands after the death of Cornelis Geurtz on August 21, 2012. He had twelve grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. Helders died on January 6, 2013.