Pieter Geyl

Pieter Catharinus Arie Geyl (15 December 1887, Dordrecht – 31 December 1966, Utrecht) was a Dutch historian, well known for his studies in early modern Dutch history and in historiography.

Geyl was born in Dordrecht and graduated from the University of Leiden in 1913. His thesis was on Christofforo Suriano, the Venetian Ambassador in the Netherlands from 1616 to 1623. He was married twice, first to Maria Cornelia van Slooten in 1911 (who died in 1933) and secondly to Garberlina Kremer in 1934.

Geyl worked as a teacher at a gymnasium (grammar school) in Schiedam (1912–1913) before going on to serve as the London correspondent for Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant newspaper. During this time, Geyl befriended many influential people in Britain. In 1919 Geyl took up a professorship in Dutch history at the University of London, where he taught until 1935. In 1935, Geyl returned home to become a professor at the University of Utrecht.

In 1928 Geyl became correspondent of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, he resigned in 1936. In 1946 he joined the Academy again, this time as full member.

In 1940, Geyl wrote an article on how historians view Napoleon. It was due to be published in June 1940, but after the German occupation in May 1940, the publishers declined to publish Geyl's article out of the fear that comparisons could be made between Napoleon and Adolf Hitler. In September 1940, Geyl used his article for the basis of series of lectures at the Rotterdam School of Economics. In October 1940 the SD (Security Service) of the SS took Geyl hostage in retaliation for what the Germans alleged to be maltreatment of Germans interned in the Dutch East Indies. Geyl spent thirteen months at the Buchenwald concentration camp. Even after his release from Buchenwald, Geyl continued to be held by the Germans at a Dutch prison until he was finally released for medical reasons in February 1944.

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