V. J. Koningsberger
 V. J. Koningsberger     (academic) | |
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| Born | 10 February 1895 Buitenzorg, Dutch East Indies |
| Died | 28 February 1966 (Age 71) Bilthoven, Netherlands |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Alma mater | Utrecht University |
| Parents | Jacob Christiaan Koningsberger |
Dutch academic who attended the first Bilderberg meeting | |
Victor Jacob Koningsberger Jr biologist and rector of Utrecht University who attended the first Bilderberg meeting.
Background
Koningsberger was born in 1895 on West Java as the son of the biologist and politician Jacob Christiaan Koningsberger (for some years Minister of colonies) and his first wife Ursule Hellendoorn (1865-1899). At the age of four he returned to the Netherlands by ship, a trip on which his mother died en route in the Suez Canal. Although at first it was planned to return only on leave, he would stay with family in the Netherlands.
Education
In 1914 he graduated from the Erasmiaans Gymnasium in Rotterdam. In January 1917, while fulfilling his military duty, he began his studies in biology at the Utrecht University, where he passed his candidate examination as early as May 1918. He devoted himself to botany, like his father, and worked as a student under professors Frits Went and Jordan. He was active in the Utrecht Student Corps. During that period he met the biologist Tilly Dijkstra, his later life companion.
On June 23, 1922, he received his doctorate with Frits Went, in which he dealt, among other things, with the precise determination of the growth rates of oat germ plants with a new device, the automatic precision auxanometer, which he designed. After that he worked as a chief Assistant to his promoter Went and as a teacher in Hilversum.
Career
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In 1924 he went to work as a manager in the Cheribon and Pasoeroean test stations for sugar production, which was then mainly located in the Dutch East Indies. In that year he also sat on the first board of the Utrecht biologists Association.[1] In 1934 he was appointed Professor of general Botany in Utrech as the successor of Went.
On 25 November 1940, Koningsberger was the first Dutch academic to openly protest against the berufsverbot for Jewish colleagues.[2]
Shortly after the war, Koningsberger briefly returned to the sugar industry, traveling around Indonesia to see how the plantations were doing. From 1951 to 1965 he was director of the Royal Tropical Institute and in 1952-1953 rector of Utrecht University.
Events Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilderberg/1954 | 29 May 1954 | 31 May 1954 | Netherlands Hotel Bilderberg Oosterbeek | The first Bilderberg meeting, attended by 68 men from Europe and the US, including 20 businessmen, 25 politicians, 5 financiers & 4 academics. |
| 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 |
