On the occasion of the national day of the Netherlands, 27 April 2021, the King of the Netherlands H.M. Willem‑Alexander awarded Prof. dr. Ferenc Postma the Knight's Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau.
Prof. Postma, son of a Hungarian mother and a Frisian father, worked at the VU from 1970 to 2010 as a biblical scholar, but also devoted himself for 40 years on a voluntary basis to the promotion of cultural and religious relations with Central and Eastern Europe in the past and present.
Prof. Postma built many scientific connections worldwide, especially in Hungary, Poland, Romania, Lithuania and Slovakia. He has received various medals and awards in both the Netherlands and Hungary. In 1997 he was appointed as visiting professor at the Károli Gáspár University of Budapest and was awarded their Károli Medal in 2014. In 2011 he received the Golden Cross of Merit of Hungary. In 2013, he received the award Pro Cooperatione from the Academy of Science in Debrecen and in 2014 he was appointed Professor honoris causa of the University of Sárospatak. In 2016, Postma donated his library to the University of Sárospatak. He also organized several relief campaigns for Hungary and developed a number of diaconal initiatives.
In addition, Prof. Postma contributed to the Frisian culture. He was editor of "It Beaken" (Fryske Akademy) for 25 years and published regularly on the renowned Franeker Academy (founded in 1585) and the great significance of this reformed institution for Hungarian theology students.
His wife, Dr. Margriet Gosker, pastor in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands and mainly active as an ecumenical theologian, was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau in 2014. She was honoured to pin the same decoration on her husband's lapel as the mayor of Venlo Antoin Scholten was unable to do so due to the current corona measures.
We wholeheartedly congratulate Prof. Postma!
