Johan Ringers

Johan Ringers in 1946

Johannes Aleidis (Johan) Ringers (Alkmaar, 2 January 1885 – The Hague, 6 May 1965) was a Dutch hydraulic engineer and politician. He was director-general of Rijkswaterstaat and then director of the Dutch East Indies railways. Ringers was charged with reconstruction as a government commissioner in 1940, but was later interned by the Germans. After the war he became Minister of Public Works and Reconstruction in the Schermerhorn and Beel I cabinets. He could not agree with the Dutch East Indies policy and resigned in 1946. Johan Ringers was the brother of Hendrik Ringers, the founder of Ringers chocolate factory. Johan was member in the supervisory board in that company

Education and first job

After the Hogere Burgerschool in Alkmaar, Ringers went to study at the Technical University in Delft, where he obtained his diploma in Civil Engineering in 1906. He then initially went to work for Rijkswaterstaat in the district of Goes and wrote about the construction of the locks at Hansweert in the Kanaal door Zuid-Beveland, among other things. In 1911, he published an article in the journal De Ingenieur about lock gates in Germany and Belgium. In 1916, he went to the Dutch East Indies to work there as the first-in-command engineer for the Dutch East Indies Railway Company. In 1920, he returned to his position at Rijkswaterstaat and started working on the canalisation in West Friesland, writing a technical-economic report about it in 1922.

Noordersluis van IJmuiden

The lock at IJmuiden under construction

Ringers then became the project leader for the construction of the Noordersluis van IJmuiden. Together with Paul Josephus Jitta, he made the design and led the construction. He has published several publications on this subject. He received the Conrad Premium from the Dutch Royal Institute of Engineers in 1926 for his work on the Noordersluis. After the completion of the works at IJmuiden, he became director-chief foreman at the Maatschappij tot Uitvoering van Zuiderzeewerken for a number of years atarting 1 January 1927.

Director-General of Rijkswaterstaat

In 1930, Ringers was appointed Director-General of Rijkswaterstaat.] In 1935, he also became a member of the board of directors of the Netherlands-Indian Railway Company, based in The Hague. He also held various honorary positions. For example, he was vice-chairman of the Delft Hydraulics Laboratory, chairman of the Association of Delft Engineers, vice-chairman of the Royal Institute of Engineers (of which he would become an honorary member in 1955), member of the National Commission for Drinking Water Supply, chairman of the Dutch Delegation to the International Association for Shipping Congresses (PIANC) and member of the standing committee for Port Policy of the Economic Council. In September 1930, he received an honorary doctorate from the Delft University of Technology, followed in June 1932 by an honorary doctorate from the Danzig University of Technology. He was then allowed to use the title “dr.ir.”.

Second World War

The war industry was an important turning point in Ringers’ career. Even before the war, the Minister of Defence had given orders to prepare measures to prevent enemy action from damaging our hydraulic engineering structures. The precautions taken at that time on his advice proved effective. As early as 30 May 1940, all inundated areas were dry. On 21 May 1940, General Winkelman appointed him “Government Commissioner for Reconstruction”, a position that was renamed “General Authorised Representative for Reconstruction and for the Construction Industry in the Occupied Dutch Territory” on 23 December 1940. On Ringers’ advice, the necessary decisions were taken within a few days to expropriate all land with destroyed buildings in Rotterdam, so that the rubble and land could be disposed of immediately and reconstruction could begin. It was also decided at that time to place the water barrier in a more convenient location. To this end, he had Johan van Veen make a study of the required safety level of the dikes. Rotterdam therefore honoured him in 1963 as "father of reconstruction" with a plaque in the "Stadstimmerhuis" (office of municipal public works). At the beginning of the occupation, Ringers had made contact with the banker E.E. Menten, who was engaged in espionage activities. On an inspection trip as general representative of reconstruction and the construction industry, he was arrested by the Sicherheitsdienst on 1 April 1943 due to betrayal during mass arrests that J. Schreieder, head of Referat IV E of the Sicherheitspolizei, had ordered against the Vorrink group and the National Committee in the context of the so-called Englandspiel. Ringers first spent about seven and a half months in prison in Scheveningen, where he even continued his work in part and, for example, designed a plan for the city heating of Rotterdam using primitive tools. This was followed by four months in the concentration camp in Vught, three weeks as a hostage in St. Michielsgestel and finally, until May 1945, imprisonment in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany.

After the war

Immediately after the liberation, he was included in the Schermerhorn-Drees cabinet as a non-partisan minister of Public Works (and from 16 August 1945 also as minister of Reconstruction), which on 3 July 1946 became the first Beel cabinet. The inspiring figure of Ringers then succeeded in cultivating the necessary team spirit to make the difficult work of reconstruction proceed relatively smoothly. As minister, he appointed Cees van der Leeuw as his representative for the reconstruction of Rotterdam; they had a great influence on the Basic Plan for the Reconstruction of Rotterdam. For his special services to the reconstruction, Ringers was awarded the Van Oldenbarnevelt Medal in 1963; this is the highest municipal distinction of the city of Rotterdam. But he could not agree with the policy towards Indonesia (the Linggadjati Agreement) which is why he requested his resignation on 30 October 1946, which was granted on 15 November.

Installation of the Deltacommission

Ringers then acted as a consulting engineer, including in the spring of 1947 for the British government after the great flood that had ravaged the Trent area there and after the flood disaster in the Netherlands in 1953 as a member of the Delta Commission, which designed the Delta Plan. He also worked as an advisor for the Bataafse Petroleum Maatschappij (=Shell). He made extensive trips to America and Asia for the BPM.

---

Sources

• Tessel Pollmann, Van Waterstaat tot Wederopbouw. Het leven van dr. ir. J.A. Ringers (1885-1965), Amsterdam, 2006, ISBN 9085062551
• Biography on www.parlement.com
• Lichtenauer, W.F. (2013-11-12). "Ringers, Johannes Aleidis (1885-1965)". Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland. Huygens ING - Amsterdam.
• "Helse oorlogsjaren voor ir. Ringers". Rijkswaterstaat. 2023-05-05.

---

Publications by Ringers:

• Ringers, J.A. (1922). Rapporten en mededeelingen van den Rijkswaterstaat : no. 20: Verslag betreffende een studiereis naar Duitschland en Frankrijk, ondernomen in maart en april 1921, in verband met den bouw van een schutsluis te IJmuiden. Rijkswaterstaat.
• {Ringers, J.A.; J.P., Josephus Jitta} (1927). Rapporten en mededeelingen van den Rijkswaterstaat ; no. 23 : proeven en beschouwingen, welke geleid hebben tot het vaststellen van het systeem van vulling en lediging van de kolk der nieuwe schutsluis te IJmuiden. Rijkswaterstaat.
• {Ringers, J.A. (1917). Rapporten en mededeelingen van den Rijkswaterstaat ; no. 8 : Beschrijving van den bouw van de derde schutsluis in het kanaal door Zuid-Beveland te Hansweert. Rijkswaterstaat.
• Ringers, J.A. (1914-02-28). "De bemaling van den fundeeringput van de in aanbouw zijnde Derde Schutsluis te Hansweert". De Ingenieur. 29 (9).
• Ringers, J.A. (1925-10-17). "De bouw van de nieuwe schutsluis te IJmuiden". De Ingenieur. 40 (42).
• Ringers, J.A. (1911-05-13). "Rol- en schuifdeuren in België en Duitsland". De Ingenieur. 26 (19).
• Ringers, J.A. (1942). "100 jaar civiel-ingenieur". De Ingenieur. special issue.
• {Ringers, J.A. (1953). Caland en de betekenis van zijn werk voor Rotterdam. Roterodamum.

---

References and notes