Willy Kruyt

John William (Willy) Kruyt (1877–1943) was a Dutch Protestant minister and Christian socialist, later Communist, politician.
Background.
The son of a Dutch publisher and his Scottish wife, Kruyt studied theology at Utrecht and joined the League of Christian Socialists in 1910.
Early political career.
In 1913, he was elected chairman of this party; in 1918, he became its only member of the House of Representatives. In the same period, he worked as a Reformed minister at Gennep. He formed an alliance with Willem van Ravesteyn and David Wijnkoop, the two representatives from the Social Democratic Party and Harm Kolthek the sole representative of the [[]. When, in 1921, the League had disintegrated due to factional struggles between orthodox Protestants and [[Christian anarchism|anarchists]], Kruyt joined the [[Communist Party of the Netherlands|Communist Party]]. He stood as a Communist candidate for the [[1922 Dutch general election|1922 elections]], but was not re-elected.
Later career.
Following his wife's death, Kruyt emigrated to Berlin where he joined [[Workers International Relief]], then to Moscow in 1935 (presumably fleeing from the Nazis) to work at the [[Russian State Library|Lenin State Library]]. Dissatisfied with [[Stalinism]], he trained as a [[espionage|spy]] in the hopes of getting back to the Netherlands this way. From England, he parachuted into Belgium in June 1942. He broke his leg and was arrested by the German occupiers who detained him at [[Fort Breendonk]].
Death.
Kruyt was tortured and deported to the [[Moabit]] prison in Berlin where he is thought to have been [[Execution by firing squad|executed by firing squad]] in 1943.
References.
[[Category:1877 births]]
[[Category:1943 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Dutch Calvinist and Reformed ministers]]
[[Category:Dutch communists]]
[[Category:Dutch socialists]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands)]]
[[Category:Dutch people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:People from Amsterdam]]
[[Category:Dutch resistance members]]
[[Category:Dutch prisoners of war in World War II]]
[[Category:Breendonk concentration camp prisoners]]
[[Category:Dutch people executed by Nazi Germany]]