Frits Niessen

Niessen was born in Raamsdonk on 16 September 1936.[1] He was a primary school teacher in Raamsdonksveer from 1958 to 1963 and subsequently was a Dutch teacher at the HAVO in Dongen from 1963 to 1980.[1]

Niessen became a member of the House of Representatives for the Labour Party on 6 October 1977 and served until 6 January 1978.[1] He left the House after the formation of the First Van Agt cabinet, which saw Labour Party members from the Den Uyl cabinet return to seats in parliament.[2] Niessen returned to the House on 27 August 1980 after Jan Pronk left.[1][3] During his time in parliament he was the party spokesperson for interior and cultural affairs, but was also occupied with education issues.[1] In 1985 he interpellated Minister Elco Brinkman about his refusal to have Hugo Brandt Corstius be given the P. C. Hooft Award.[1] In 1989 he was influential in preventing the closure of the Institut Néerlandais in Paris.[4] Niessen remained a member of the House until 17 May 1994.[1]

Niessen was a long-time editor of Ons Erfdeel, he started contributing shortly after its foundation in 1957 and ultimately became deputy editor-in-chief in 1977, which he remained until 2016.[4] In the 1990s he was recipient of the ANV-Visser Neerlandiaprijs for individual merit for four decades of work for Dutch language and culture. Niessen was co-chair of the Commission Cultural Convention Flanders-The Netherlands (Dutch:Commissie Cultureel Verdrag Vlaanderen-Nederland) together with Hugo Weckx. Upon his departure from the commission in 2006 he was made a Commander in the Order of the Crown.[4] In 2009 he became an honorary citizen of Geertruidenberg.[5] He died on 23 October 2020 in Raamsdonksveer.[6]