Monarch Juliana Prime Minister Jan de Quay Spouse Mini Schreurs (m. 1944) Deputy Barend Biesheuvel Preceded by Charles van Rooy Party Catholic People's Party | Preceded by Jan de Quay Name Victor Marijnen Succeeded by Jo Cals Preceded by Hans Kolfschoten Role Dutch Politician | |
 | ||
Died April 5, 1975, The Hague, Netherlands Education Radboud University Nijmegen | ||
Victor Gerard Marie "Vic" Marijnen (21 February 1917 – 5 April 1975) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 24 July 1963 until 14 April 1965.
Contents
Marijnen a Civil servant by occupation, he worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries from 1941 until 1957. Marijnen became General-Secretary of the Roman Catholic employers' organizations in the Netherlands in 1957. Marijnen was asked to become Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries after the Dutch general election of 1959 in the Cabinet De Quay under Prime Minister Jan de Quay of his own party. Marijnen took office as the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries on 19 May 1959. Marijnen served as acting Minister of Social Affairs and Health from 3 July 1961 until 17 July 1961 following the resignation of Charles van Rooy. He served a short period as a Member of the House of Representatives from 2 July 1963 until 24 July 1963. After the Dutch general election of 1963, Marijnen became Prime Minister of the Netherlands, leading the Cabinet Marijnen.
After his premiership, Marijnen remained in active politics and became again a Member of the House of Representatives from 27 April 1965 until 14 January 1966. He later became Mayor of The Hague serving from 16 October 1968 until his death from a heart attack on 5 April 1975.
Early life
Victor Gerard Marie Marijnen was born in Arnhem on 21 February 1917. In 1941 he graduated in law from the Radboud University Nijmegen and went on to work in the accountancy divisions of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. In 1945 he was seconded to the Council for the Restitution of Legal Rights.
In 1949 Marijnen became secretary of the Agricultural Society and in 1951 Secretary-General of the Foreign Agricultural Trade Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. From 1957 he was secretary of the General Catholic Employers Association and the Catholic Federation of Employers Associations.
Accusations regarding paedophile priests
In 1956 Marijnen was chairman of a children's home in Gelderland where children, including Henk Heithuis, were sexually abused by priests. According to the Telegraph newspaper, reporting in March 2012, he "intervened to have prison sentences dropped against several priests convicted of abusing children." The Dutch Catholic Church organised the castration of Heithuis while he lived at the Gelderland children's home in 1956 after he reported being sexually abused to the police.
Politics
During the Cabinet De Quay, Marijnen was Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 24 July 1963 until 14 April 1965.
From 1965 to 1966 Marijnen was a member of the House of Representatives and concurrently chairman of the Board of the Rijnmond Authority. In 1967 he was also appointed chairman of the Post and Telecommunications Council. On 16 October 1968 he was selected Mayor of The Hague.
Marijnen died on 5 April 1975 in The Hague, while serving as Mayor from a heart attack at the age of fifty-eight.