Chronicle of the Institute
| Published date | 01 December 1976 |
| Date | 01 December 1976 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002085237604200415 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
CHRONICLE
OF
THE
INSTITUTE
IIAS,
its
Sections
and
Members
In
Memoriam
Gerrit
Abraham
van
Poelje
Professor
G.A.
van
Poelje,
Honorary
Vice-
President
of
IIAS
and
Honorary
President
of
the
Netherlands
National
Section,
died
at
the
Hague
on
7
September
1976,
at
the
age
of
ninety-two.
Because
of
his
long
career,
his
lucid
mind,
his
encyclopedic
knowledge
of
the
theory
and
practice
of
administration,
and
his
many
and
always
authoritative
publications,
he
was
con-
sidered
the
Nestor
of
the
administrative
science
of
his
time.
-
In
1903,
at
the
age
of
nineteen,
he
entered
the
burgomaster’s
secretariat
of
his
birthplace,
Naaldwijk.
At
the
same
time
he
continued
his
education,
passed
the
State
examination
in
1910,
and
was
awarded
an
LL.D.
in
January
1914
after
defending
a
thesis
on
the
contem-
porary
law
dealing
with
municipal
corporations.
As
he
was
interested
in
the
subjects
on
the
agenda
of
the
Ist
International
Congress
of
Administrative
Sciences,
Brussels
1910,
and
wished
to
have
the
documents,
he
was
one
of
the
thirty-four
nationals
of
his
country
who
registered
for
that
historic
event.
He
did
not,
however,
attend
the
meetings
and
used
to
enjoy
explaining
how,
on
account
of
his
then
modest
position,
he
could
not
afford
the
journey
from
Naaldwijk
to
Brussels.
He
was
thus
the
last
survivor
of
the
body
of
pioneers
who
took
part
-
albeit
indirectly
-
in
the
first
efforts
made
in
1910
to
inter-
nationalize
the
study
of
the
administrative
sciences.
In
1916,
he
was
appointed
Town
Clerk
of
Helder
and,
in
1919,
joined
the
staff
of
the
City
of
The
Hague
as
Director
of
the
Education
Division.
He
left
that
post
in
1933,
with
the
Chairman
of
the
City’s
Education
Committee
to
whom
he
was
responsible
and
who
had
been
appointed
Minister,
to
enter
the
Department
of
Education
and
Science.
In
1940,
Gerrit
Abraham
van
Poelje
became
Permanent
Se-
cretary
of
the
Department,
of
which
he
soon
afterwards
had
to
assume
full
charge
when
the
Netherlands
was
invaded
by
the
German
Army
and
the
Government
left
for
England.
Deprived
of
his
post
in
October
1940,
he
was
interned
at
Buchenwald
and
kept
in
concen-
tration
camps
until
the
end
of
the
war.
Free
again
in
1945,
he
reached
the
height
of
his
career
when
he
was
appointed
a
member
of
the
Council
of
State.
His
role
in
the
field
of
teaching
was
far
from
limited
to
the
administrative
side
for,
since
1928,
he
had
held
the
rank
of
extra-
ordinary
professor
of
administrative
sciences
at
Rotterdam
and
he
afterwards
taught
in
the
University
of
Leiden.
Even
before
the
Second
World
War,
Gerrit
Abraham
van
Poelje
had
been
appointed,
by
his
Government,
an
official
delegate
to
the
International
Institute
of
Administrative
Scien-
ces.
During
the
Berne
Congress
in
1947,
he
presided
over
the
discussion
of
Mr.
L6on
Mou-
reau’s
general
report,
&dquo; The
Head
of
Govern-
ment
and
the
Organization
of
his
Services &dquo;,
.and
was
invited
by
the
Bureau
of
IIAS
to
be
a
Vice-President
of
the
Institute.
He
was
Chairman
of
the
Committee
for
the
Revision
of
the
Statutes,
and
after
the
revised
text
had
been
adopted,
was
re-elected
Vice-
President
in
1953
and
again
in
1956.
In
1959
he
was
appointed
Chairman
of
the
Committee
on
Comparative
Administrative
Law
Cases
and
remained
on
the
Executive
Committee
in
that
capacity
until
his
resignation
in
1964.
From
1953
to
1962,
he
was
the
Institute’s
Joint
Auditor,
with
the
late
Henri
Matton,
First
Pre-
sident
of
the
Belgian
Court
of
Audit.
At
the
Council
of
Administration’s
eleventh
session
at
Warsaw,
his
appointment
as
an
Honorary
Vice-President
of
IIAS
was
approved
by
acclamation.
He
was
one
of
the
principal
founders
of
the
Instituut
voor
Bestuurswetenschappen,
which
immediately
became
the
Netherlands
National
Section
of
IIAS,
and
was
its
Chairman
from
1946
to
1962.
Above
all,
he
endeavoured
to
develop
its
training
activities
and
to
provide
it
with
a
journal,
Bestuurswetenschappen,
which
first
appeared
in
1947
and
at
once
reached
a
high
standard
and
helped
towards
the
improvement
of
public
administration
on
every
level,
from
municipal
to
national
and
even
international.
Gerrit
Abraham
van
Poelje
was
the
Chairman
of
its
Editorial
Board
until
the
end
of
1966.
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