Willem Witteveen

{{Short description|Dutch politician (1952–2014)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Willem Witteveen | image = Willem Witteveen (12082628245) (2).jpg{{!}}border | caption = Witteveen in January 2014 | office = [[Senate (Netherlands)|Member of the Senate]] | term_start = 15 January 2013 | term_end = 17 July 2014 | office1 = | term_start1 = 8 June 1999 | term_end1 = 12 June 2007 | birth_name = Willem Johannes Witteveen | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1952|5|5}} | birth_place = [[Rotterdam]], Netherlands | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2014|7|17|1952|5|5}} | death_place = [[Malaysian Airlines Flight 17]], near [[Hrabove, Donetsk Oblast|Hrabove]], Ukraine | death_cause = [[Aircraft shootdown]] | party = [[Labour Party (Netherlands)|Labour Party]] (1994–2014) | spouse = {{Marriage|Lidwien Heerkens|1978|2014|reason=died}} | children = Marit (died 2014) Freek | parents = {{Plainlist}} *[[Johan Witteveen]] *Liesbeth de Vries Feijens {{Endplainlist}} | alma_mater = [[Leiden University]] | occupation = Politician, professor, author | signature = | website = }}

'''Willem Johannes Witteveen''' ({{IPA|nl|ˈʋɪləm joˈɦɑnəs ˈʋɪtəˌveːn}}; 5 May 1952{{spaced ndash}}17 July 2014) was a Dutch legal scholar, politician, and author. He was a law professor at [[Tilburg University]] (1990–2014) and a [[Senate (Netherlands)|Member of the Senate]] for the [[Labour Party (Netherlands)|Labour Party]] (1999–2007; 2013–2014). He was also the author of several books about law and politics. Witteveen was killed on 17 July 2014 when the flight he was travelling on, [[Malaysia Airlines Flight 17]], was shot down over eastern [[Ukraine]].

==Early life and education== Willem Johannes Witteveen was born on 5 May 1952 in [[Rotterdam]] in the Netherlands.<ref name="parlement">{{in lang|nl}} [http://www.parlement.com/id/vg09llkqvuz5/w_j_willem_witteveen Prof.Dr. W.J. (Willem) Witteveen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140721031723/http://www.parlement.com/id/vg09llkqvuz5/w_j_willem_witteveen |date=21 July 2014}}, ''Parlement & Politiek'', 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2014.</ref>

He was the son of liberal politician [[Johan Witteveen]] and Liesbeth de Vries Feijens. He was also the great-grandson of social-democratic politician [[Floor Wibaut]].<ref name="father">{{in lang|nl}} [http://www.parlement.com/id/vg09lld3f4za/h_j_johan_witteveen Dr. H.J. (Johan) Witteveen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017104515/http://www.parlement.com/id/vg09lld3f4za/h_j_johan_witteveen |date=17 October 2014}}, ''Parlement & Politiek''. Retrieved on 18 July 2014.</ref><ref name="nunl">{{in lang|nl}} "[http://www.nu.nl/politiek/3831529/eerste-kamerlid-willem-witteveen-omgekomen-bij-vliegramp.html Eerste Kamerlid Willem Witteveen omgekomen bij vliegramp] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140720071137/http://www.nu.nl/politiek/3831529/eerste-kamerlid-willem-witteveen-omgekomen-bij-vliegramp.html |date=20 July 2014 }}", ''[[NU.nl]]'', 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2014.</ref> He had three brothers and a sister.<ref name="parlement"/>

He went to a public primary [[Montessori education|Montessori school]] in Rotterdam and to the public secondary school [[Rijnlands Lyceum Wassenaar|Rijnlands Lyceum]] (1964–1970) in [[Wassenaar]]. He studied Dutch law at [[Leiden University]] (1970–1978) in [[Leiden]].<ref name="parlement"/>

==Career== From 1979 to 1989, he worked as researcher of [[constitutional law]] at Leiden University. In 1988, he received his PhD ''[[cum laude]]'' with the dissertation ''De retoriek in het recht'' (The rhetorics of law). From 1990 to his death, he was a law professor at [[Tilburg University]].<ref name="parlement"/> His fields of expertise were ''[[separation of powers|trias politica]]'', legislation, [[rhetoric]], [[legal theory]], and [[political theory]].<ref>[https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/webwijs/show/?uid=w.j.witteveen W.J. (Willem) Witteveen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812223633/https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/webwijs/show/?uid=w.j.witteveen# |date=12 August 2014}}, [[Tilburg University]]. Retrieved on 20 July 2014.</ref>

Witteveen was a member of the [[Labour Party (Netherlands)|Labour Party]] since 1994. He was chairman of the [[party platform]] committee of the Labour Party in 1998–99. He was a member of the [[Senate (Netherlands)|Senate]] from 1999 to 2007, where he was chairman of the committee for [[Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations|Internal Affairs]] and the [[High Council of State (Netherlands)|High Councils of State]]. In the [[2007 Dutch Senate election|2007]] and [[2011 Dutch Senate election|2011 Senate elections]], he was at an unelectable position on the candidate list.<ref name="parlement"/>

From 2007 to his death, he was founding dean of the [[Bachelor of Liberal Arts|College of Liberal Arts]] at Tilburg University.<ref name="parlement"/><ref name="tilburg">[http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/news-and-events/news/Professor-Witteveen-his-wife-and-student-daughter-killed-in-plane-crash-Ukraine Professor Witteveen, his wife and student daughter, killed in plane crash] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140719204750/http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/news-and-events/news/Professor-Witteveen-his-wife-and-student-daughter-killed-in-plane-crash-Ukraine/# |date=19 July 2014}}, [[Tilburg University]], 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2014.</ref> From 2013 to his death, he was again a senator.<ref name="parlement"/> He was appointed after Pauline Meurs left the Senate.<ref>{{in lang|nl}} [https://www.kiesraad.nl/nieuws/benoeming-wj-witteveen-tot-lid-van-de-eerste-kamer Benoeming W.J. Witteveen tot lid van de Eerste Kamer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728042455/https://www.kiesraad.nl/nieuws/benoeming-wj-witteveen-tot-lid-van-de-eerste-kamer# |date=28 July 2014}}, Electoral Council, 2013. Retrieved on 21 July 2014.</ref>

Witteveen had finished the manuscript of his book ''De wet als kunstwerk'' (The law as work of art) shortly before his death.<ref>{{in lang|nl}} [http://www.boomfilosofie.nl/actueel/nieuws/nieuwsartikel/59/Willem-Witteveen-omgekomen Willem Witteveen omgekomen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726144117/http://www.boomfilosofie.nl/actueel/nieuws/nieuwsartikel/59/Willem-Witteveen-omgekomen |date=26 July 2014 }}, Uitgeverij Boom. Retrieved on 21 July 2014.</ref> The book was posthumously released in November 2014.<ref name="boomfilosofie">{{in lang|nl}} [http://boomfilosofie.nl/product/1251/De-wet-als-kunstwerk De wet als kunstwerk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323072302/https://www.boomfilosofie.nl/product/1251/De-wet-als-kunstwerk |date=23 March 2016 }}, Uitgeverij Boom. Retrieved on 15 December October 2014.</ref>

==Death== Witteveen was killed on 17 July 2014 at the age of 62, along with his wife Lidwien Heerkens and their daughter Marit Witteveen.<ref name="nunl"/><ref name="tilburg"/> They were passengers on [[Malaysia Airlines Flight 17]] from [[Amsterdam Airport Schiphol|Schiphol]] in the Netherlands to [[Kuala Lumpur International Airport|Kuala Lumpur]] in Malaysia, when the airplane was shot down near [[Hrabove, Donetsk Oblast|Hrabove]] in Ukraine's contested eastern [[Donetsk Oblast|Donetsk region]].<ref>{{in lang|nl}} "[http://www.ouderenjournaal.nl/home/2014/07/18/senator-willem-witteveen-omgekomen-bij-crash/ Senator Willem Witteveen omgekomen bij crash] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20140726222328/http://www.ouderenjournaal.nl/home/2014/07/18/senator-willem-witteveen-omgekomen-bij-crash/ |date=26 July 2014 }}", ''Ouderenjournaal'', 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2014.</ref><ref>"[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-28360827 MH17 crash: Passengers on Malaysia Airlines plane in Ukraine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171231041658/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-28360827 |date=31 December 2017}}", ''[[BBC News]]'', 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2014.</ref><ref>Sabrina Tavernise, Eric Schmitt, and Rick Gladstone, "[https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/18/world/europe/malaysian-airlines-plane-ukraine.html Jetliner Explodes Over Ukraine; Struck by Missile, Officials Say] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308214910/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/18/world/europe/malaysian-airlines-plane-ukraine.html |date=8 March 2017 }}", ''[[The New York Times]]'', 2014. Retrieved on 21 July 2014.</ref>

==Personal life== Like his father, Witteveen was a [[Universal Sufism|Universal Sufist]].<ref name="father"/><ref>{{in lang|nl}} [http://www.eerstekamer.nl/persoon/prof_dr_w_j_witteveen_pvda Prof.dr. W.J. Witteveen (PvdA)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140723161123/http://www.eerstekamer.nl/persoon/prof_dr_w_j_witteveen_pvda |date=23 July 2014 }}, [[Senate (Netherlands)|Senate]], 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2014.</ref> In 1978, he married Lidwien Heerkens; the couple had two children, a daughter Marit and a son Freek. The family lived in [[Breda]] in [[North Brabant]].<ref name="parlement"/><ref name="tilburg"/><ref>"[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/19/world/europe/malaysia-airlines-plane-victims.html Victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214072019/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/19/world/europe/malaysia-airlines-plane-victims.html |date=14 December 2017 }}", ''[[The New York Times]]'', 2014. Retrieved on 20 July 2014.</ref> His son Freek later became a quantum computing researcher at ''[[Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica]]''.<ref name="j571">{{cite web | last=Hoofs | first=Maartje | title=Freek Witteveen: 'Good to see that my father is still appreciated at the university' | website=Univers magazine | date=2023-08-22 | url=https://universonline.nl/nieuws/2023/08/22/freek-witteveen-good-to-see-that-my-father-is-still-appreciated-at-the-university/ | language=nl }}</ref><ref name="c918">{{cite web | title=Freek Witteveen: a journey from QuSoft, and back again – Qusoft | website=Qusoft – Research center for Quantum software & technology | date=2025-09-01 | url=https://qusoft.org/2025/09/01/freek-witteveen-a-journey-from-qusoft-and-back-again/ }}</ref>

==Legacy== A street in Breda, the Willem Witteveenhof, has been named after Witteveen in 2020.<ref>[https://www.bredavandaag.nl/algemeen/algemeen/309326/breda-vernoemd-woonhof-naar-mh17-slachtoffer-willem-witteveen]</ref><ref>[https://www.omroepbrabant.nl/nieuws/3168533/mh17-slachtoffer-willem-witteveen-naamgever-van-nieuwe-woonhof-in-breda]</ref> Witteveen lived in the adjacent street, the Burgemeester Passtoorsstraat, at the time of his passing.

== Bibliography == Witteveen wrote several non-fiction books about law and politics: *(1988) ''De retoriek in het recht'' (The rhetorics of law)<ref>{{in lang|nl}} [http://www.bibliotheek.nl/catalogus/titel.046891153.html De retoriek in het recht: over retorica en interpretatie, staatsrecht en democratie] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401065044/http://www.bibliotheek.nl/catalogus/titel.046891153.html |date=1 April 2016 }}, Bibliotheek.nl. Retrieved on 23 July 2014.</ref> *(1992) ''Het theater van de politiek'' (The theater of politics)<ref>{{in lang|nl}} [http://www.bibliotheek.nl/catalogus/titel.093272545.html Het theater van de politiek : publieke retorica en de paspoortaffaire] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401080646/http://www.bibliotheek.nl/catalogus/titel.093272545.html |date=1 April 2016 }}, Bibliotheek.nl. Retrieved on 23 July 2014.</ref> *(1996) ''De geordende wereld van het recht'' (The structured world of the law)<ref>{{in lang|nl}} [http://www.bibliotheek.nl/catalogus/titel.149783671.html De geordende wereld van het recht: een inleiding] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401024847/http://www.bibliotheek.nl/catalogus/titel.149783671.html |date=1 April 2016 }}, Bibliotheek.nl. Retrieved on 23 July 2014.</ref> *(2000) ''De denkbeeldige staat'' (The imaginary state)<ref>{{in lang|nl}} [http://www.bibliotheek.nl/catalogus/titel.189720158.html De denkbeeldige staat: voorstellingen van democratische vernieuwing] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401061558/http://www.bibliotheek.nl/catalogus/titel.189720158.html |date=1 April 2016 }}, Bibliotheek.nl. Retrieved on 23 July 2014.</ref> *(2002) ''De sociale rechtsstaat voorbij'' (Past the welfare state) with Bart van Klink<ref>{{in lang|nl}} [http://www.bibliotheek.nl/catalogus/titel.242262201.html De sociale rechtsstaat voorbij: twee ontwerpen voor het huis van de rechtsstaat] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401055402/http://www.bibliotheek.nl/catalogus/titel.242262201.html |date=1 April 2016 }}, Bibliotheek.nl. Retrieved on 23 July 2014.</ref> *(2010) ''Het wetgevend oordeel'' (The legislative judgement)<ref>{{in lang|nl}} [http://www.bibliotheek.nl/catalogus/titel.327247312.html Het wetgevend oordeel: studies over wetgeving en communicatie] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401030952/http://www.bibliotheek.nl/catalogus/titel.327247312.html |date=1 April 2016 }}, Bibliotheek.nl. Retrieved on 23 July 2014.</ref> *(2014) ''De wet als kunstwerk'' (The law as work of art)<ref name="boomfilosofie"/>

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

== External links == {{Commons category|Willem Witteveen}} *{{in lang|nl}} [http://www.academischeboekengids.nl/do.php?a=show_visitor_zoeken&b=zoekresultaten&visitor_search_author=Willem+Witteveen Willem Witteveen], articles in ''[[Amsterdam University Press|Academische Boekengids]]'' (2000–2011) *{{in lang|nl}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20140728185913/http://www.wbs.nl/platform/gebruikers/85/profiel Willem Witteveen], articles in ''[[Wiardi Beckman Stichting|Socialisme & Democratie]]'' (2002–2010) *{{in lang|nl}} ''[http://www.wrr.nl/publicaties/publicatie/article/de-sociale-rechtsstaat-voorbij/ De sociale rechtsstaat voorbij]'' (2002), e-book at the [[Scientific Council for Government Policy]] website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Witteveen, Willem}} [[Category:1952 births]] [[Category:2014 deaths]] [[Category:Dutch legal scholars]] [[Category:Dutch legal writers]] [[Category:Dutch people murdered abroad]] [[Category:Dutch political writers]] [[Category:Ināyati Sufis]] [[Category:Labour Party (Netherlands) senators]] [[Category:Leiden University alumni]] [[Category:Academic staff of Leiden University]] [[Category:Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 victims]] [[Category:Members of the Senate (Netherlands)]] [[Category:Politicians from Breda]] [[Category:Writers from Rotterdam]] [[Category:Academic staff of Tilburg University]] [[Category:Dutch scholars of constitutional law]] [[Category:21st-century Dutch lawyers]] [[Category:21st-century Dutch writers]] [[Category:21st-century Dutch politicians]] [[Category:20th-century Dutch lawyers]] [[Category:20th-century Dutch writers]] [[Category:20th-century Dutch politicians]]