Piet Burggraaf

Pieter Adriaan "Piet" Burggraaf (19 October 1931 – 5 January 2019) was a Dutch politician. He was a member of the Dutch House of Representatives for the Pacifist Socialist Party (PSP) from 1963 to 1967, serving as the PSP's chairman from 1960 to 1963 and from 1969 to 1973. He also served as the chairman of the Association Netherlands-GDR from 1974 to 1990.

Early life

Piet Burggraaf was born on 19 October 1931 into a strict orthodox Reformed Protestant family in Alphen aan den Rijn. In his later life, Burggraaf would abandon his family's orthodox Reformed faith in favour of a more liberal Reformed Protestantism. In 1967 he left the House of Representatives to become adjunct-director of a training centre in Oosterhesselen. In 1979, the association's leader Dick van der Meer was removed under pressure from the East German government due to his interference in the internal politics of the Communist Party of the Netherlands, and Burggraaf became the leader of the organisation. In 1990, Burggraaf had denied that the Association Netherlands-GDR was a communist front, and had maintained contacts with opposition "in the margins ". In a 2007 episode of the television programme Andere Tijden, Burggraaf admitted that although the Association Netherlands-GDR had served as a political tool for East Germany, he nevertheless viewed his work through the Association as having contributed to a certain "mindset between different people".

Later life Outside of politics, Burggraaf occupied various organisational functions throughout the 1970s, including board member of the VPRO from 1970 to 1971, membership of the governing council of the Child Protection Council in Assen from 1970 to 1975 and of the Social Academy 'De Horst' in Driebergen from 1973 to 1978. He was also active in the refugee support charity Stichting Vluchtelingenwerk, as well as several other cultural organisations. Burggraaf was an avid collector of bookplates, and was member of the governing body of the Dutch association of bookplate collectors from 1998 to 2010. He headed the municipal GroenLinks chapter in De Bilt from 2001 to 2005.

Piet Burggraaf died on 5 January 2019 in Groenekan.

Personal life Piet Burggraaf was married three times. His first marriage was to Louisa Bulterman on 3 October 1953, with whom he had three sons. He divorced her on 29 October 1974, marrying Louise Margaretha Wilhelmina Hubert less than a month later on 22 November, with whom he had one son and divorced on 19 February 1988. His last marriage was to Geertruida Maria Siegerink on 29 August 2001, with whom he was already cohabiting and had one daughter.