Frans Goedhart, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Frans Goedhart

Dutch politician (1904-1990)

Date of Birth: 25-Jan-1904

Place of Birth: Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands

Date of Death: 03-Mar-1990

Profession: politician, resistance fighter, journalist

Nationality: Kingdom of the Netherlands

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Frans Johannes Goedhart (25 January 1904 – 3 March 1990) was a Dutch journalist, politician and during World War II member of the Dutch resistance.
Having spent most of his youth in orphanages and having received little formal education Goedhart became a journalist for several local and regional newspapers in the 1930s.
During this period Goedhart became a fierce anti-communist and anti-fascist and became wishful of political reform based on socialism. Goedhart was active in the Dutch resistance to the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.
Under the war pseudonym Pieter 't Hoen he founded a newsletter which later became the illegal newspaper Het Parool.
In January 1942 he tried to flee to England but was captured, although he was sentenced to death he managed to escape in August 1943.
He then returned to his newspaper which obtained widespread circulation during the later years of the war. After the war Goedhart became more politically active and sought a reform of the political system in which he tried to use Het Parool as a political vehicle.
He became member of the House of Representatives for the Labour Party (PvdA) in 1946 and would stay member until the early 1970s.
In the House he developed himself as a supporter of Indonesian independence of the Netherlands and became a staunch supporter of anti-communism.
Goedhart became a conflictual figure, clashing both at his newspaper and with his party members.