Marinus van der Goes van Naters


Jonkheer Marinus van der Goes van Naters was a Dutch politician of the defunct Social Democratic Workers' Party and later the Labour Party and lawyer.

Background and early career

He was born in Nijmegen. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1937 to 1967 and in-parliament chairman of the social democratic parties SDAP and its successor the Labour Party from 1945 to 1951.

Imprisonment at Buchenwald and elsewhere

From 1940 to 1944 during World War II he was held hostage by the German occupiers in various camps, including Kamp Sint-Michielsgestel and Buchenwald concentration camp.

German border issues after World War II

In the mid-1950s he was involved in the eponymous plan adopted by the Council of Europe for the settlement of the Saar question. In the post-war years he successfully argued that the Duivelsberg, annexed from Germany after World War II, be retained permanently by the Netherlands.

Death

He died in 2005 at the age of 104 in Wassenaar, Netherlands.