Early life Johannes Gerardus Hendrikus Janmaat was born on 3 November 1934 in
Nes aan de Amstel in
North Holland, as the oldest of nine children in a traditional
Roman Catholic family. In 1999, Janmaat was in the process of starting another party, the
Conservative Democrats, He was often accused, and convicted, of committing acts of
hate speech, and received fines and a conditional
felony prison sentence for incitement to hatred and discrimination against foreigners. and said he was not saddened by the sudden death of political opponent
Ien Dales.
Meindert Fennema, Emeritus Professor of Political Theory of Ethnic Relations at the University of Amsterdam, argued in 2006 that Janmaat was convicted for statements that are now commonplace due to changes in the political climate (caused in part by the
September 11 attacks, and the assassinations of
Pim Fortuyn and
Theo van Gogh). As the first public spokesperson who tried to put the topic of immigration on the Dutch political agenda, Janmaat has been mentioned as a forerunner of Pim Fortuyn,
Geert Wilders and
Thierry Baudet and their parties
Leefbaar Nederland (and later
Lijst Pim Fortuyn),
Partij voor de Vrijheid and
Forum voor Democratie, which booked massive electoral successes in the following decades. ==References==