H. Colijn (1869-1944) was a Dutch politician. In 1892 he was appointed second lieutenant in the Royal Dutch East Indies Army. After leaving the army he was an elected Member of Parliament for the Anti-Revolutionary Party. He served as Minister of War from 1911 till 1913 and was Director of the Batavian Petroleum Company from 1914 till 1922. In 1920 he took over as leader of the Anti-Revolutionary Party. Colijn was Prime-Minster five times: in 1925-1926 and in four successive Cabinets between 1933 and 1939. The election of 1937 was a resounding success for him. Many anti-revolutionaries voted for him as a ‘strong man’. His crisis policy, on the other hand, was greeted with abhorrence in broad swathes of the population.

Under Colijn, Dutch foreign policy continued to be based on the policy of neutrality, which had held firm since 1918. It was also under Colijn that the Dutch policy on refugees and the reception of German-Jews took shape. Judging from his brochure Op De Border Van Twee Werelden (On the Frontier between Two Worlds), Colijn appeared to have accepted the New Order ushered in by the Nazi occupation but he soon changed his mind. He was interned in 1941.

See:

www.parlement.com/9291000/biof/00263

www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/BWN/lemmata/bwn2/colijn

• H. Langeveld, Hendrikus Colijn, 1869-1944. Deel II Schipper naast God (Amsterdam 2004)
• R.L. Schuursma, Vergeefs onzijdig: Nederlandse neutraliteit 1919-1940 (Utrecht 2005).