Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Willem Drees   

Willem Drees. Photo By Marcel – Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Fascinating Facts About Willem Drees   

Willem Drees was a Dutch politician, civil servant, Accountant, Stenographer, and Historian. He was also an Author and a defunct Social Democratic Workers’ Party member. He would later form the Labour Party.  

Willem also served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands. His premiership is consistently regarded, by scholars and the public, as having been one of the best in Dutch history.   

He holds the record as the third longest-serving and longest-lived Prime Minister. Willem was an exceptionally popular politician. 

Here are the top 10 fascinating facts about Willem Drees. 

1. Willem Was The Second Born in His Family

Willem Drees was born on 5th July 1886 in Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands. His parents were Johannes Michiel Drees and Anna Sophia Van Dobbenburg.  

Willem had an older sister Grietje Drees born in 1884 and a younger sister Christina Elisabeth Drees born in 1888. He also had a younger brother Johannes Michiel Drees who was born in 1890 when Willem was 4 years old. 

2. He Was a Father of Four

The family’s Gravestone in South Holland. Photo By Harvey – Wikimedia Commons

Willem married Catharina Hent on 28 July 1910, in Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands. They were the parents of four children.

They had two daughters Anna Sophia Drees born in 1911 and Adriana Catharina Drees born in 1914 but sadly died when she was 6 years. 

They also had two sons Johannes Michiel Drees born 1919 who Willem named after his younger brother and Willem Drees Jr. born 1922 named after Willem himself. Both sons were active members of the Labour Party.    

All these members of his family have since passed on.

3. Willem Never Drank Alcohol  

Willem Drees was a Teetotaler. This means that he never took any alcohol. He practiced total personal abstinence from alcoholic beverages.  

4. He Was an Accountant and a Stenographer 

After completing his secondary education at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Willem studied Accounting at the Amsterdam Public Trade School obtaining a Bachelor of Accountancy degree. 

After graduation, he did several jobs. He worked as a teller for the Twentsche Bank in Amsterdam and also worked as a stenographer with the Municipal Council of Amsterdam.

His job was to capture the proceedings using a stenographic machine and then create a certified transcript for filing. 

5. Willem Was a Civil Servant 

Willem Drees. Photo By Collectie – Wikimedia Commons

He also worked at The States General of the Netherlands which is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. 

At one point, he was the chairman of The Hague branch of the Social Democratic Workers’ Party and a member of the municipal council of The Hague where he served as Mayor.

During that period, he was an alderman for social affairs and finance, and public works. Willem also held a seat on the Provincial Council of South Holland and was a Social Democratic Workers’ Party executive member.

He represented the Social Democratic Workers’ Party in the House of Representatives and became a leader in the House of Representatives. 

6. Willem Was Once Hostage in a Concentration Camp 

During World War I, the Dutch government remained neutral to avoid hostility. The strategy worked fine and the war passed. When Second World War started, The Dutch government again was neutral but Germany had other plans.

It was during the German occupation that Willem Drees was taken hostage in the Buchenwald concentration camp on 7 October 1940.  

On 7 October 1941, he was moved to Kamp Sint-Michielsgestel. He was released on 11 May 1942 due to poor health. 

7. He Served as Prime Minister After the War 

General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Prime Minister Willem Drees. Photo By Daan Noske – Wikimedia

After his release, he played a prominent role, as vice chairman and acting chairman of the illegal Executive Committee of the SDAP, and as a prominent participant in secret interparty consultations.

From 7th August 1948 to 22nd December 1958, Willem was Prime Minister of the Netherlands. He led four successive cabinets. Previously, he had been the Minister of Social Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister in the cabinet.  

Willem’s premiership was at a key period for the Netherlands. Postwar reconstruction required careful management. Loyal to his social-democratic ideals, honest, respectable, astute, and pragmatic, Willem was the right man for the job at the time.  

In those 10 years, the broad foundations of the welfare state had been laid. He is one of the best prime ministers the Netherlands has ever had. 

8. He Introduced Pension 

A wide range of social reforms were carried out during Willem’s tenure as Prime Minister. A good example is the Occupational Pensions Funds Act which made membership in industry-wide pension funds compulsory.  

Work councils were established, and the dismissal of female civil servants upon marriage was abolished. A department of social welfare was also established, while laws were passed on unemployment benefits and widows’ and orphans’ pensions. 

Other developments included economic reconstruction, the establishment of the Dutch welfare state, traumas of decolonization, and international integration and cooperation. 

9. There is a Unique Monument in His Honour  

Monument to Willem Drees. Photo By Wikifrits – Wikimedia Commons

The monument to Willem Drees is not a conventional statue, but a very different one. It’s a portrait of the man, made of steel. The monument was designed by artist Eric Claus and was unveiled on 5th July 1988.  

Initially, it was located at the old town hall on the Groenmarkt in The Hague where he was Deputy Mayor, but it was later moved to the Buitenhof near the Parliament buildings. 

In the 1950s, He was honored with a medal of freedom with Gold Palm by the U.S government. Other honors include Knight Grand Cross by the U.K, Ethiopia, and the Netherlands in the Orders of St Michael and St George, the Holy Trinity, and Netherlands Lion respectively.

10. He Lived For Over 100 Years

Willem Drees died on 14th May 1988 in The Hague. It was just two months before his 102nd birthday which means he was 101 years and 314 days old when he died. He was buried in a private ceremony at The Hague, South Holland, Netherlands.

From 22nd August 1986 when former Turkish President Celâl Bayar died, Willem was the world’s oldest living former head of government until his death. In 2004 he was placed third in the election of The Greatest Dutchman.