Eelco van Kleffens
 Eelco van Kleffens    ( politician, diplomat) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 17 November 1894 Heerenveen, Netherlands | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 17 June 1983 (Age 88) Almoçageme, Portugal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Dutch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Leiden University | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parents | • Henricus Cato van Kleffens • Jeannette Frésine van Kleffens | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Margaret Helen Horstman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of | Dutch Round Table, LSV Minerva | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives | Adrianus van Kleffens | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Transatlantic Dutch politician and senior diplomat, including Ambassador to the United States and NATO who attended 10 Bilderberg meetings in the 1950s and 60s.
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Eelco Nicolaas van Kleffens was a Dutch politician and senior diplomat, including Ambassador to the United States and NATO who attended 10 Bilderberg meetings in the 1950s and 60s.
Background
Eelco van Kleffens was the son of Henricus Cato and Jeannette Frésine (Veenhoven) van Kleffens. His younger brother Adrianus van Kleffens would later become a judge at the European Court of Justice. He married Margaret Helen Horstman on 4 April 1935.[1]
Education
He took a degree in law from Leiden University.[1]
Career
Van Kleffens worked in the Secretariat of the League of Nations. He became secretary to the Directorate of Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. (Shell) in 1920. He was appointed Assistant Director of the Legal Section of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1922 and of the Diplomatic Section in 1927, becoming Director of the latter in 1929. In the early 1930s he was also Secretary-General of The Hague Academy of International Law.[1]
Van Kleffens was appointed the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1939, weeks before World War II began, and was part of the Dutch government in exile over that period. During the war he penned an account of the German invasion named Juggernaut over Holland which was circulated within the occupied territory, and he was also one of the original signatories of the Benelux union. During the war, Van Kleffens developed a plan for a global system of regional security organizations, in which, in addition to the countries from such a region - located around oceans - also Great Britain and the United States would always participate. The credibility of the entire structure relied on American participation, because, according to Van Kleffens, the European states could not solve the security problem among themselves.
He was strongly in favour of a planned annexation of large German territories and would also have accepted a mass expulsion of Germans.[1]
Van Kleffens held the position of foreign minister until the Schermerhorn–Drees cabinet of 1946. Following his resignation from the ministerial position (but not from the cabinet) van Kleffens became the Netherlands' representative on the United Nations Security Council, and in 1947 was appointed the ambassador to the United States. He became closely involved in the negotiations for what in 1949 became NATO.[1]
In 1950 he became the ambassador to Portugal, and was bestowed the title of Minister of State, a prestigious title.[1]
In 1954 van Kleffens was appointed to the position of President of the United Nations General Assembly for that body's ninth session.
Van Kleffens was the Dutch representative at NATO and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development from 1956 to 1958, and at the European Coal and Steel Community from 1958 until 1967, after which Van Kleffens retired to Portugal, where he died on 17 June 1983.[1]
Events Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilderberg/1955 March | 18 March 1955 | 20 March 1955 | France Barbizon | The second Bilderberg meeting, held in France. Just 42 guests, fewer than any other. |
| Bilderberg/1955 September | 23 September 1955 | 25 September 1955 | Germany Bavaria Garmisch-Partenkirchen | The third Bilderberg, in West Germany. The subject of a report by Der Spiegel which inspired a heavy blackout of subsequent meetings. |
| Bilderberg/1956 | 11 May 1956 | 13 May 1956 | Denmark Fredensborg | The 4th Bilderberg meeting, with 147 guests, in contrast to the generally smaller meetings of the 1950s. Has two Bilderberg meetings in the years before and after |
| Bilderberg/1957 October | 4 October 1957 | 6 October 1957 | Italy Fiuggi | The 6th Bilderberg meeting, the latest ever in the year and the first one in Italy. |
| Bilderberg/1958 | 13 September 1958 | 15 September 1958 | Buxton UK | The 7th Bilderberg and the first one in the UK. 72 guests |
| Bilderberg/1959 | 18 September 1959 | 20 September 1959 | Turkey Yesilkoy | The 8th Bilderberg and the first in Turkey. 60 guests. |
| Bilderberg/1960 | 28 May 1960 | 29 May 1960 | Switzerland Bürgenstock | The 9th such meeting and the first one in Switzerland. 61 participants + 4 "in attendance". The meeting report contains a press statement, 4 sentences long. |
| Bilderberg/1961 | 21 April 1961 | 23 April 1961 | Canada Quebec St-Castin | The 10th Bilderberg, the first in Canada and the 2nd outside Europe. |
| Bilderberg/1962 | 18 May 1962 | 20 May 1962 | Sweden Saltsjöbaden | The 11th Bilderberg meeting and the first one in Sweden. |
| Bilderberg/1964 | 20 March 1964 | 22 March 1964 | US Virginia Williamsburg | A year after this meeting, the post of GATT/Director-General was set up, and given Eric Wyndham White, who attended the '64 meeting. Several subsequent holders have been Bilderberg insiders, only 2 are not known to have attended the group. |
