Oltmans WillemLeonard

Dutch investigative journalist, autobiographer and publisher who won a lengthy legal battle with the Dutch state. Oltmans was the son of Antonie Cornelis Oltmans (24 June 1894 - 21 April 1966), a chemical engineer and lawyer and Alexandrine van der Woude (21 June 1896, Maarssen - ?), the daughter of a rich Quinine producer, a medicine used against malaria (bad air) disease. His parents were very wealthy thanks to the Dutch East Indies colonies where malaria was endemic. Oltmans grew up in the villa "De Horst" and had a formal elite education, with luxury and music, but he lacked the warmth from his as distanced perceived parents. The very intelligent and rhetorically gifted Oltmans attended the Lyceum in Baarn and studied at the economic school Nijenrode (1946) and at Yale University (1948-50). He wanted to become a diplomat for Foreign affairs. But both studies failed, he got not the desired job and arrived into an identity crisis. In 1953 he worked as a foreign affairs journalist for the "Algemeen Handelsblad" and in 1954 for United Press, in 1955 he was writing for the newspaper "De Telegraaf" in Rome. on 12 June 1956 he interviewed the Indonesian President Sukarno in Rome. The Dutch Government was not pleased with it as it wanted to keep New Guinea as a colony. "De Telegraaf" fired him for this contact with the hated president. In 1957 Oltmans argued to hand New Guinea over to Indonesia, but he was now regarded by the Dutch government as a traitor and persona non grata. The influential Minister of foreign affairs from 1952-1971 Joseph Luns decided in 1956 to boycott "deze eenmotorige mug" (this one-motored mosquito) in all possible ways. Of course this decision was not proclaimed in the official Staatscourant, it was just an internal notice for all civil servants on Foreign AFfairs. During the following 40 years Oltmans felt that he secretly was boycotted and opposed by the successive Dutch governments in whatever he did. But he could not prove it as "De wet openbaarheid van bestuur" or WOB (Freedom of information on Governmental documentation law) of 1980 only arrived in its present by journalists useful format on 31 October 1991. Before that Dutch journalists had to beg Dutch politicians and civil servants for required information. Oltmans went to New York and started a relation with a ground stewardess Josephine Anna Friederike Westerman. They divorced after 2,5 years as Oltmans was homosexual. On 2 January 1974 criminals fired on Oltmans when driving. The left behind tire of his sports car was hit. He survived the assassination attempt. In 1991 Oltmans started a process against the Dutch government asking for 2.8 miljon guilders for "veertig jaar getreiter en gesar van het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken". In this process that took years Oltmans made use of his extensive archives and his memoirs that can still be found on-line. But using the WOB he could also retrieve the secret documents that could prove his claims. During the process he asked some 50 ex government leaders and even members of the Dutch Royal family to witness. It became painful for the Dutch government that spent two million of guilders in it. But also Oltmans investigated all he had it it, so he could not permit to lose it. His first step was to ask the department of Inner Affairs to retrieve his dossier of the Dutch secret service Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst (BVD) and to make sure nothing would be destroyed. Minister Dales refused, but in October Read less