Jan Terlouw (1931-2025) Felt for a long time either a scientist, or a writer, or a politician. But in recent years he felt primarily a citizen, with a sense of responsibility. “Because of Everything I’ve Been Through.” The continued to show that responsibility until his Death.
In The Past, Strings Still Hung Out of the mailboxes. With that now-Famous Metaphor, The Then 85-Year-Old Terlouw Described in the Television Program De Wereld Draait Door The Problems That Society and Politics Are Struggling With. Because we No Longer Trust Each Other, The Government No Longer Trusts The Population, And We Are Also Destroying The Environment.
The Solution Lies Mainly in Politics, was the conclusion with which Terlouw is emotionally concluded his argument. “I say to all politicians in the Netherlands and abroad: people be honest, be incorruptible, and above all, convay that you are there to serve the public interest. And what is the public interest? The public interest is the interest of the youth.
Where the Older Generations May Know Terlouw Best As A Prominent D66 Politician in the 1970s and 1980S, The Younger Generations Know Him Mainly From His Books, in which Social Commitment also resonated. And Actually, All Generations Knew Terlouw from Media Appearances Such as That in De Wereld Draait Door , in which the Political and Cultural Side of Terlouw Came Together.
Terlouw, The Son of A Minister, was born on November 15, 1931 in The Overijssel Town or Kamperveen. As a child, he lived in Various Places, but he spent the hunger winter – about which he later wrote his most famous book – in Wezep. After school, Terlouw Graduated in Mathematics and Physics. In Those Years he also with Mathematics student Alexandra van Hulst, with whom he Stayed Together Until Her Death in 2017.
‘Ideal Son-in-Law’ Faced Significant Political Challenges
In 1964, Terlouw Obertorate with Research Into Nuclear Fusion, But Politics Beckoned. In 1967, Terlouw Joined the then newly founded party d’66, then Still with an apostrophe in the name. He first committed himself to local politics in Utrecht, but in 1971 he made the step to national politics. Terlouw Stood as a candidate and that narrowly earned him a place in the Hague Plush. D66 won Eleven Seats, and Terlouw was in Elevth Place.
The years in which Terlouw committed himself politically WERE Characterized by Difficult Political Challenges for the Young D66. After the fall of the Biesheuvel-i Cabinet, D66 won only Six Seats in 1972, Again Just Enough to Give Terlouw, As Number Six on The List, A Seat in Parliament. After the Departure of Group Chairman Hans van Mierlo, Terlouw over the Chairmanship from Him in 1973.
But after the dramatically Run Provincial Council Elections in 1974 (D66 won 1 percent of the votes), The Question Arose Whether D66 Should Continuous at All. Not if it was up to terlouw, but because the required two-thirds majority was not reached, the party continued anyway, with terlouw as group chairman.
After that crisis, D66 Recovered and the Party Positioned itself Mainly as “The Reasonable Alternative”. Terlouw, portrayed in a campaign as “iDeal son-in-law”, Allowed the Party to Climb from Eight to Seventeen Seats in 1981. D66 Joined the Government in the Van Agt II Cabinet and Terlouw BeCame Affairs and Deputy Minister.
It turned out to be a turbulent time in the Hague’s politics. The Van Agt II Cabinet Fell After Only a Few Months and in the New Elections Terlouw’s Name Did Not Appear at the Top of the D66 List, But Only in Fourth Place. In 1982 Terlouw Resigned As Group Chairman and later that year he withdrew, Disappointed, from National Politics.
“I was completely done with it,” Terlouw later Said About this. “Then I thought: I might be more of an administrator than a politician.” In The Following Years, Terlouw Became, Among Other Things, Secretary General of the European Conference of Transport Ministers and Queen’s Commissioner in Gelderland.
Lasting Mark on Dutch Youth Literature
Terlouw’s Political Interest was not only expressed in his work as a politician, but also in his books. Even before his political career reached its peak, terlouw released his most famous works. He could ultimately count hisself Among One of the Greatest Children’s Book Writers in the Netherlands.
His First Book Pjotr, Exiled to Siberia was published in 1970, after which King of Kator (1971) and his experiences-based winter in Wartime (1972) Followed. Both Books Were Awarded a Golden Griffin, The Prize for the Best Dutch Children’s Book.
“The Conveyed Wisdom of Life in A Fairytale-Like Way,” Says Jesse Goossens of Publisher Lemniscaat About Terlouw’s Work. But Terlouw was more than just a children’s and youth book writer. In 1978, for Example, The Political Novel The Third Chamber was published, a detective series that was written together with his daughter Sanne Terlouw, and non-fiction, including a political diary.
But His Children’s Books Will Remain the Best Known and also Left Their Mark on Dutch Youth Literature. In recent years, Terlouw Felt a Gap with the Current Youth. He no longer knew children so well, “with all those computer games and iPhones,” De Gelderlander quoted him as saying. Yet in 2016, a Final Children’s Book was published: The Greed Gas , About Climate Problems.
Terlouw Continued to Feel Responsible
Because the climate, that has bone terlouw’s biggest spearhead for decades. His Concerns About the Climate Were “Very Big,” He Told the ANP in 2023 After releasing his bundle wobbly world . “Every little bit Helps, you hope. People need to know.”
Terlouw described himself years Earlier in an interview with the stentor as a responsible citizen. “For a lung time I felt either a scientist, or a politician, or a writer. But in the last 25 years I have recurred ferwer official functions and i Sometimes Think: What am i actual now? I feel like a citizen, with a sense of experience. Knowledge, I know my way around the Netherlands.
Hey that Until His Death. The Motivation for this also came out clearly in that famous Appearance at DWDD . “I have a wonderful life,” Said Terlouw. “I want you to have that too.”