Fred Polak

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Frederik Lodewijk Polak (21 May 1907, Amsterdam – 17 September 1985, Wassenaar) was the Dutch founding father of futures studies, best known for his work The Image of the Future. Polak was the son of Alexander Abraham Polak (11 July 1874, Rotterdam - 8 Aug 1961, Amsterdam), violin builder and concertmaster of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Janet Kiek (20 Febr 1880, Amsterdam - 27 Sept 1963, Amsterdam), who founded the first Home Economics Budget Bureau. They married 1 June 1904 in Amsterdam and got five children. His brother Rudolf Jan Polak (14 April 1916, Amsterdam- 22 Febr 2003, Amsterdam) became a professor in Law. Fred studied law and economics in Amsterdam (graduated 21 Nov 1930) and after jobs in banking and trade, became in 1936 a member of the Board of Directors of De Bijenkorf, a large chain of stores in the Netherlands. On 22 may 1936 he married the poet and animal activist Emma Louise Moor (19 May 1908, Haarlem - ?). They got six children, but only two could be retraced: Frederik Alexander Polak (17 Nov 1937, Amsterdam) and Louis Herman Thomas Polak (25 May 1940, Amsterdam). On 6 November 1940 the family moved to Huizen. As a Jew, Polak lost his job during the war. He had to sell his library and began writing his thesis. From 1943, maybe earlier, Polak and his family went into hiding. Emma Louise Moor got on 31 March 1981 recognition as Righteous Among the Nations by a Yad Vashem for her contribution. After WW2, he obtained a PhD in philosophy with "Kennen en keuren in de sociale wetenschappen" on 27 February 1948 in Rotterdam (cum laude). The historian Jan Romein had helped him during WW2. His first promotor in 1946 in Amsterdam, was the economist Frans de Vries (2 May 1884, Groningen - 15 June 1958, Amsterdam). But Polak and De Vries had different opinions. De Vries believed in a value-free economical science, whilst Polak did not. With the help of Jan Romein, he could change to the philosopher Prof. Hendrik Josephus Pos. In 1946, he became a staff member, later and till 1 January 1956 managing director of the Netherlands' Central Planning Bureau under Jan Tinbergen. From 1948 till 1952, he was personal advisor to the Minister of Education Theo Rutten. From 1 July 1952 till September 1954, he was advisor of the Dutch government for Full Employment. From 1 January 1949 to December 1960, he was Professor of Sociology at the Nederlandse Economische Hogeschool, later called the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. His colleagues in Rotterdam had problems with the unscientific character of the publications, his frequent travels and sick-leave. He was Managing Director of "NJ Menko Textile Factory" in Enschede from January 1961 till 1 January 1964. Polak was a Senator for the Socialist Party (June 5, 1963 to September 20, 1966) and later became a co-founder of the political party DS-70 (4 April 1970). Since his thesis and inaugural address in 1947 on the evolution of science and society of tomorrow, devoted himself continuously to the future of man and society. Author of many publications on futurology, Polak was recipient of Fellowships from UNESCO, the Ford Foundation, and the Council of Europe which awarded him a prize for the two-volume book The Image of the Future (1954). He was the founder and first president of Teleac (Dutch television academy), co-founder and vice-president of the Erasmus Prize Foundation, and scientific advisor for long-term planning to numerous concerns in the Netherlands. He was engaged in setting up an institute for long-term future research and development in the Netherlands and was also Secretary-General of the International Society for Technology Assessment. Link to Wikipedia Link to Astrodienst discussion forum