Editing Willem Drees (section)

===Early career===
Drees became a member of the executive committee of the SDAP's [[The Hague]] branch in 1910, and the following year, at the age of 25, he was elected as the branch's chairman, a position he would keep until 1931. He was first elected to the [[Municipal council (Netherlands)|municipal council]] of The Hague in 1913, and would keep his seat until 1941. In 1919, Drees became the city's second social democratic [[alderman]], alongside [[Willem Albarda]]. He was responsible for [[social affairs]] until 1931, and for finance and public works after that. In this period, Drees supported the broad coalition that governed the municipality, and was a proponent of a pragmatic, reformist course for the party; he had not supported Troelstra in his call for revolution in the [[Red Week (Netherlands)|Red Week]] in 1918.<ref name=Tromp/> For 22 years, between 1919 and 1941, Drees also held a seat in the [[Provincial Council of South Holland]]. Drees was asked to succeed [[Willem Vliegen]] as the SDAP's national chairman in 1926 and he reluctantly accepted, but after the party's secretary and several local branches protested his nomination at the party congress of that year due to Drees' limited national fame, he withdrew his nomination. The following year, however, he became a member of the national SDAP executive, where he would remain until the party's dissolution in 1946.<ref name="Biography Willem Drees">{{in lang|nl}} [http://www.iisg.nl/bwsa/bios/drees.html Biography Willem Drees] ''BWSA''</ref><ref name="Van der Steen"/>

Drees was elected to the [[House of Representatives (Netherlands)|House of Representatives]] in the [[1933 Dutch general election|1933 general election]], taking office on 9 May 1933 and simultaneously resigning as alderman of The Hague. He served as a [[frontbencher]] and spokesperson for social affairs. In the context of the [[Great Depression]], he was a proponent of an active crisis policy of industrial planning and the execution of large-scale public works; he saw industrialisation as the structural solution to mass unemployment. Sooner than other prominent SDAP members, he advocated the devolution of the [[Dutch guilder]]. He also strongly opposed the activities of the [[National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands]] and other anti-democratic movements, stating in 1935 that fascists are not opponents but enemies. He likewise rejected cooperation with the [[Communist Party of the Netherlands]].<ref name="Biography Willem Drees"/><ref name="Van der Steen"/> After the SDAP's parliamentary leader [[Willem Albarda]] was appointed [[List of Ministers of Infrastructure of the Netherlands|Minister of Water Management]] in the [[second De Geer cabinet]], Drees was selected to succeed him, becoming parliamentary leader on 10 August 1939. Shortly after the [[German invasion of the Netherlands]], Albarda announced he was stepping down as party leader, and Drees was unanimously selected as his successor on 14 May 1940.

During the German occupation, Drees was taken hostage in [[Buchenwald concentration camp]] on 7 October 1940. On 7 October 1941, he was moved to [[Kamp Sint-Michielsgestel]], but he was released on 11 May 1942 due to poor health.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.parlement.com/id/vg09ll01jztw/w_willem_drees |title=Dr. W. (Willem) Drees|website=Dutch Parlement|access-date=25 January 2021|language=nl}}</ref> After his release, Drees played a prominent role as vice chairman and acting chairman of the illegal Executive Committee of the SDAP, and as a prominent participant in secret interparty consultations. In 1944, he became chairman of the ''Contact Commissie van de Illegaliteit'' and a member of the ''College van Vertrouwensmannen'', which the government-in-exile charged with the preparation of steps to be taken at the time of liberation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/thema/Vaderlandsch%20Comit%C3%A9 |title=Vaderlandsch Comité|website=Oorlogs Bronnen|access-date=25 January 2022|language=nl}}</ref>

Following the end of [[World War II]], Drees was appointed as [[List of Ministers of Social Affairs of the Netherlands|Minister of Social Affairs]] and [[Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands|Deputy Prime Minister]] in the [[National unity government|national unity]] [[Schermerhorn–Drees cabinet]], taking office on 25 June 1945. In February 1946, he was one of the co-founders of the [[Labour Party (Netherlands)|Labour Party]] (PvdA) and became its first [[Leader of the Labour Party (Netherlands)|Leader]]. For the [[1946 Dutch general election|1946 general election]], Drees served as one of the [[lead candidate]]s, and following the [[1946 Dutch cabinet formation|1946 cabinet formation]] continued his offices in the [[first Beel cabinet]]. For the [[1948 Dutch general election|1948 general election]], Drees again served as one of the PvdA's lead candidates, and following a successful cabinet formation with the [[Catholic People's Party]], he formed the [[Drees–Van Schaik cabinet]], with Drees becoming [[Prime Minister of the Netherlands]], taking office on 7 August 1948.<ref name="Biography Willem Drees"/>