Willem Drees Sr. (Dutch pronunciation ; 5 July 1886 – 14 May 1988) was a Dutch statesman who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 7 August 1948 to 22 December 1958. He was the first Leader of the Labour Party (PvdA), assuming the position from 9 February 1946 until the end of his premiership. Born in Amsterdam, Drees, a civil servant and accountant by occupation, worked as a bank teller from 1903 until 1906 and as a stenographer for the States General of the Netherlands from 1907 until 1945. He served as a member of the House of Representatives from 9 May 1933 to 24 June 1945 while retaining his previous employment. In October 1940 he was taken hostage in Buchenwald concentration camp for resisting orders given by German occupiers but was freed one year later; his parliamentary mandate had not been revoked. He served as the parliamentary leader of the Social Democratic Workers' Party in the House of Representatives from 19 August 1939 until 24 June 1945 when he became Minister of Social Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister serving from 24 June 1945 until 7 August 1948 in the Schermerhorn–Drees cabinet and First Beel cabinet. He served again a short periode as a member of the House of Representatives, after the general election of 1946 from 4 June 1946 until 4 July 1946. After the general election of 1948, Drees became Prime Minister of the Netherlands, leading the First, Second, Third and Fourth Drees cabinets. He also served as Acting Minister of Colonial Affairs from 15 March 1951 until 31 March 1951 and as Acting Minister of Finance from 1 July 1952 until 2 September 1952, following the resignations of Johannes Henricus van Maarseveen and Piet Lieftinck respectively. He again had two short stints as a member of the House of Representatives after the general election of 1952 and 1952, serving from 15 July 1952 until 2 September 1952 and from 3 July 1956 until 3 October 1956.Drees most notably led the country through the North Sea flood of 1953 and was the second oldest person who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands after Johan Rudolph Thorbecke, who died in office at the age of seventy-four. On 22 December 1958 he was granted the honorary title of Minister of State. He remained a very active observer of Dutch politics, publishing a substantial number of books and articles until the age of ninety-seven. Willem Drees was the longest-lived Dutch Prime Minister, dying at the age of 101 years, 314 days, on 14 May 1988 in The Hague. He is praised by many as the most important Dutch politician after World War II for his important contributions and social reforms laws and seen as the father of the modern welfare state in the Netherlands. Drees was chosen as the best Prime Minister of the Netherlands after World War II after an opinion polling conducted by the VPRO in 2006.