Glossary

Jaap van Praag

JAAP VAN PRAAG (1911-1981) was born in Amsterdam in a modern Jewish socialist environment. He studied Dutch language and history and became a teacher. In the pre-war period, he was active in various pacifist youth organizations, where he met people with whom he would later found the Dutch Humanist League. During the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940-1945), van Praag had to go into hiding. In this period, he developed his theory of Humanism. In February 1946, van Praag was one of the principal initiators of establishing the Dutch Humanist League, and became its Chairman from 1946 to 1969. From 1954 to 1974, he was a member of a provincial Executive. Van Praag was one of the first professors in Humanist studies (University of Leiden, 1964-1979). He stressed the importance of a non-religious Humanist life stance, which, as an alternative to the churches, could give meaning to life. Van Praag played a major role in founding IHEU. As its first Chairman, he was actively engaged in the work of consolidating and enlarging IHEU. He resigned as Chairman in 1975, but continued as an Honorary Board Member.