Draft:Petrus Buwalda
 | Review waiting, please be patient.
This may take 7 weeks or more, since drafts are reviewed in no specific order. There are 2,585 pending submissions waiting for review.
Where to get help
How to improve a draft
You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article. Improving your odds of a speedy review To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags. Editor resources
Reviewer tools
|
Petrus Buwalda | |
|---|---|
 Petrus Buwalda in 1976 | |
| Born | May 25, 1925 Groningen, Netherlands |
| Died | June 5, 2016 (aged 91) The Hague, Netherlands |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Alma mater | University of Groningen (MA, PhD) |
| Occupation(s) | Diplomat and author |
| Awards | Order of Orange-Nassau (Knight, Commander) Silver Medal of Honour for Art and Science from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) |
Petrus Buwalda (born 25 May 1925 in Groningen) was a Dutch ambassador and author who served in various diplomatic roles representing the Kingdom of the Netherlands between 1952 and 1991.[1]
He served as Dutch ambassador to Egypt, Sweden [2], and the Soviet Union [3] between 1979 and 1991, and to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 1984. During Buwalda's posting in Moscow between 1986 and 1991, the Dutch embassy assumed diplomatic responsibilities on behalf of the state of Israel following the collapse of its relationship with the Soviet Union as a result of the Six-Day War. One such responsibility was to issue visas to those that wished to immigrate to Israel but were denied permission, who are historically labelled as refuseniks.[4] His book They Did Not Dwell Alone: Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union, 1967-1990 (1991), based on his doctoral research, is regarded as a significant study of the refusenik movement.[5]
Early life and education
[edit]Petrus Buwalda was born on 25 May 1925 in Groningen, in the north of the Netherlands. Following the German invasion of the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, he lived under Nazi occupation until the end of the Second World War in 1945. To avoid compulsory labour service in Germany, Buwalda pursued studies at a higher technical education institution.
After the liberation of the Netherlands, he enrolled at the University of Groningen to study law. He later studied French at the Sorbonne University in Paris, France. Buwalda subsequently applied for admission to a special one-year training programme for prospective diplomats in the Dutch Foreign Service. Buwalda later received his PhD from the University of Groningen at the end of his career upon publishing They Did Not Dwell Alone: Jewish Immigration from the Soviet Union, 1967-1990, about his diplomatic work in Moscow.
Diplomatic career
[edit]Between 1952 and 1954, Buwalda worked at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was posted as third secretary at the Dutch embassy in Washington, D.C. In 1954, he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he was stationed as the consul general. Buwalda's next post was as second secretary in Bonn, West Germany, in 1955, after which he was moved to Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1959. In 1957, the Indonesian government broke ties with the Dutch government, and Buwalda and the embassy staff left Jakarta on August 17th, 1960, during an event that later became known as Zwarte Sinterklaas. In 1961, Buwalda returned to The Hague to work for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as second secretary until 1964. Buwalda returned to Washington, D.C., in 1964 as first secretary at the Dutch embassy. In 1968, he was posted as chargé d'affaires in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, until 1972.
Buwalda was then posted at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, as a minister plenipotentiary representing the Netherlands, from 1972 until 1978. One of Buwalda's colleagues at the time was Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the first secretary, who later became the eleventh Secretary General of NATO.
Buwalda then received his first ambassadorial posting in 1978 in Cairo, Egypt, during the presidential terms of Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak. Buwalda then moved to Stockholm, Sweden, in 1983 to represent the Netherlands as ambassador to the OSCE. The Stockholm Document (1986) resulted in establishing conventional stability in Europe. This CSBM Document was the first time that all OSCE parties had the right to conduct on-site inspections of military forces in the field. He then became the ambassador to Sweden between 1984 and 1986 in a dual role. Buwalda's third ambassadorial posting was in Moscow, the Soviet Union, between 1986 and 1991. It was here that Buwalda became involved in the plight of Soviet-oppressed Jews, known as refuseniks.
Despite retiring in 1991, Buwalda took up an ambassadorial role as representative of the Netherlands to the OSCE in Vienna, Austria.
Refuseniks
[edit]After the Soviets cut off diplomatic relations with Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967, the Dutch embassy in Moscow established an Israeli interests section, which represented Israel in the Soviet Union until diplomatic relations were re-established in October 1991. As part of this representation, the Dutch embassy issued visas to individuals who wanted to emigrate to Israel. A large proportion of these individuals were Soviet Jews. As part of this process, individuals required exit visas issued by the Soviet Union. Those that were denied these visas were labelled refuseniks.
The Dutch government was initially hesitant to support the plight of the refuseniks out of fear of provoking the Soviet authorities during the Cold War. Buwalda convinced the Dutch minister of foreign affairs during the Second Lubbers cabinet, Hans van den Broek, to take an active role in supporting the refuseniks. As part of Buwalda's own undertaking, he made contact with dissidents and received refuseniks at the official residence.[6] He and his wife, Vilma Calpaktsoglou, organised cultural gatherings at the Dutch embassy to help bring dissidents and refuseniks out of their isolation. During these gatherings, Buwalda was known to often play the piano while his wife, who was an opera singer by profession, sang. Attendees at the gatherings included former dissident and physicist Andrei Sakharov and his wife, Yelena Bonner, and future Deputy of the Prime Minister of Israel and professional chess player Natan Sharansky.
The Dutch government did not actively distribute information to Soviet Jews and refuseniks to obtain visas. Instead, this was done by the Dutch Committee for Solidarity with Jews in the Soviet Union, set up by Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp in 1970. They used underground methods to provide necessary information to obtain visas to Israel, which the Dutch government was not able to do without provoking the Soviet authorities. Soetendorp and Ronny Naftaniel later recognised Buwalda's efforts as similar to those of diplomats who aided Jews during the Second World War.[7]
Personal life
[edit]In 1946, together with Siep Arends (1922-2010), he presented the first radio broadcast of the Regionale Omroep Noord (RON, predecessor of RTV Noord).[8]
Buwalda was married twice, including to Greek opera singer Vilma Calpaktsoglou in 1959, with whom he retired in The Hague. Together they had one son, Mark.[9]
Buwalda's brother, Max Buwalda, also served as a diplomat under the Dutch foreign service, fulfilling various diplomatic roles in South Africa and Norway and serving as ambassador in Uruguay.
Buwalda was made a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau in 1972 and was appointed Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau in 1990. He was also awarded the Silver Medal of Honour for Art and Science from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).
Publications
[edit]Buwalda wrote numerous books about his time as ambassador, including They Did Not Dwell Alone: Jewish Immigration from the Soviet Union, 1967-1990, for which he received his PhD from the University of Groningen in 1996, and which was published by the Woodrow Wilson Centre Press in 1997.[10]
- Buwalda, P. (1997). They did not dwell alone: Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union, 1967-1990. Woodrow Wilson Center Press; Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Goodby, J. E., Buwalda, P., & Trenin, D. (2002). A strategy for stable peace: Toward a Euroatlantic Security Community. United States Institute of Peace Press; Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. [11][12]
- Buwalda, P. (2002). De Laatste Vlag Gestreken: Een Persoonlijke Herinnering Aan Djakarta, 17 Augustus 1960. Bataafsche Leeuw. [13]
References
[edit]- ^ "Op 27 mei 1925 in Groningen – Piet Buwalda geboren". Deze Dag in de Geschiedenis. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
- ^ "Bezoek aan Z-Jemen: Khad kauwen en een revolver als cadeau". NRC Handelsblad. 6 February 1986. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
- ^ "Bijlage: Ambassadeurs en Permanente Vertegenwoordigers". CompendiumPolitiek.nl. CompendiumPolitiek. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
- ^ Goodby, James E. (November 2014). "The Putin Doctrine and Preventive Diplomacy" (PDF). The Foreign Service Journal. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
- ^ Buwalda, Petrus (August 1999). "Review of *They Did Not Dwell Alone*". H-Russia, H-Net Reviews. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
- ^ "For Soviet Jews, Fear of Losing a Path to U.S." The New York Times. 23 June 1988. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
- ^ "Wat Piet Buwalda deed voor Joden". Nederlands Dagblad. 13 June 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
- ^ "Eerste presentator voorloper RTV Noord overleden". RTV Noord (in Dutch). Retrieved 22 August 2025.
- ^ "Stamboom Petrus Buwalda (1925–2016)". Genealogie Online. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
- ^ Petrus Buwalda (1996). They did not dwell alone. The emigration from the Soviet Union, 1967–1990. During the representation of Israeli Interests by the Netherlands Embassy in Moscow (PhD thesis). University of Groningen. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
- ^ "A Strategy for Stable Peace: Toward a Euro-Atlantic Community". Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. ADST. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
- ^ Tachau, F. (Summer 1999). "Policy Making in Israel". Shofar. 17 (4). Retrieved 1 September 2025.
- ^ "[Title of the Document or Item]". Yale University Library, LUX Digital Collections. Retrieved 22 August 2025.