Talk:Heineken N.V.

Conflict of Interest edit request

 * What I think should be changed (include citations):

I propose rewriting the final section of the Heineken NV article on the proceeds of slavery, to give it more background on the sources of these claims and to highlight the fact this is disputed. I propose the following:

Alleged links to slavery
On 15 February 1864, Gerard Adriaan Heineken bought De Hooiberg (the Haystack) brewery in Amsterdam. It remains unclear whether the funds for the purchase of the Haystack came from his father, a cheese trader, or his mother, whose estate included proceeds from her previous husband’s family’s historical investments in West Indies slave plantations. Gerard’s father, Cornelis Heineken, was a businessman trading cheese and other foods. In 1862, Cornelis passed away and Gerard received an inheritance of 54,736 fl. . As Gerard bought the Haystack shortly after he received this inheritance from his father, it is conceivable that Gerard used it to fund the Haystack’s purchase possibly combined with a family or bank loan. In a letter to his mother 18 June 1863, Gerard discussed the potential Haystack purchase and his plans for the future Gerard’s mother, Anna Geertruida van de Paauw, came to own shares in slave plantations in Berbice (modern day Guyana) and Suriname through her first marriage in 1829 to Pieter Jacob Schumacher van Oudorp (1804–1833) who passed away in 1833. The Schumacher family owned several plantations in Berbice and Suriname, according to records held at the UK’s National Archive. After Pieter Schumacher died, Anna was remarried to Cornelis Heineken and had four children, one of which was Gerard Heineken. Anna passed away in 1881. The heritage section of the Heineken company website includes historical research and documents about its funding origins. The company states that it cannot be ruled out that money with a historical link to slave plantations tied to Gerard’s mother’s first husband’s family was in some way used to fund the purchase of the Haystack. They note that despite extensive research, documentation that validates these details has not been found.


 * Why it should be changed:

There is no verifiable evidence as to where the money for the purchase actually came from, and the article should highlight the disputed nature of this fact which the current article does not.

New information has surfaced from the Amsterdam Archives showing the purchase contract for the Haystack Brewery, and the inheritance Gerard Heineken received from his father. These documents are cited as they show there is doubt as to the origin of the funds for the original purchase.

I think it is still important that the information showing that Anna's first husband was a slave plantation owner is relevant and should stay in.

The current article states that Heineken haven't acknowledged their links to slavery, which they actually have so I have cited the link to where they acknowledge this on their corporate website.

Occasionalpedestrian (talk) 11:37, 13 October 2021 (UTC)


 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done for now: I'm unable to approve this ER for now due to excessive bloat. I aknowledge the effort put in it, but it must be more concise. Quetstar (talk) 18:54, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

Thanks Quetstar for your feedback. You're right, it is a bit bloated so I'll bring this down and resubmit.

Can I ask your advice, the current article's claim that the money for the original brewery purchase came from slavery is unverified by any third party sources so I'm not sure how it made it on to Wikipedia in the first place. What is your view on that? Would it be best to talk about the disputed nature of the slavery claims, or take them out altogether? Occasionalpedestrian (talk) 16:26, 20 October 2021 (UTC)


 * @Occasionalpedestrian I think that some research should be done in order to find a source for the disputed nature of the slavery claims. If there are no sources that back it up, it can be removed. Quetstar (talk) 19:04, 20 October 2021 (UTC)


 * Based off my own, somewhat shallow research it seems like there's just insufficient evidence (for the time being), so I think the first sentence proposed by the COI editor is a bit more accurate. I acknowledge that that might seem like whitewashing to some editors, but I think stating that as fact is original research at best. Pyrrho the Skeptic (talk) 21:11, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

Thank you for your guidance Quetstar and Pyrrho the Skeptic. Do you think the following ER is concise and factual? I know that Heineken have done a lot of research trying to get a factual answer on this but nothing definitive has been found, so I think acknowledging the links could be the best way to go.

Alleged links to slavery
When Gerard Heineken decided to buy Den Hoyberch (The Haystack) brewery in 1864, he could have got the funds for the purchase from his mother or his father.

Gerard’s father, Cornelis Heineken, was a businessman that passed away in 1862, leaving Gerard an inheritance of 54,736 fl. . Gerard bought the Haystack shortly after he received this inheritance from his father.

Gerard’s mother, Anna Geertruida van de Paauw acquired part of her fortune from a previous husband’s family, which had ties to West Indies plantations. Anna Geertruida's first husband was Pieter Jacob Schumacher van Oudorp (1804–1833). The Schumacher family owned a plantation in Dutch Guyana called Schumacher’s Lust, according to records held at the UK’s National Archive. .

Heineken acknowledges these links and states that it cannot be ruled out that money with a historical link to slave plantations tied to Gerard’s mother’s first husband’s family was in some way used to fundead a the purchase of the Haystack. They note that despite extensive research, documentation that validates these details has not been found.


 * I would suggest instead a trimmed version of the COI editor's first proposal, like this:


 * Possible ties to the slave trade


 * On 15 February 1864, Gerard Adriaan Heineken bought De Hooiberg (the Haystack) brewery in Amsterdam [1]. It remains unclear whether the funds for the purchase of the Haystack came from his father, a cheese trader, or his mother, whose estate included proceeds from her previous husband’s family’s historical investments in West Indies slave plantations.


 * In a letter to his mother 18 June 1863, Gerard discussed the potential Haystack purchase and his plans for the future.[4] Gerard’s mother, Anna Geertruida van de Paauw [5], came to own shares in slave plantations in Berbice (modern day Guyana) and Suriname through her first marriage in 1829 to Pieter Jacob Schumacher van Oudorp (1804–1833) [6] who passed away in 1833. The Schumacher family owned several plantations in Berbice and Suriname, according to records held at the UK’s National Archive [7] [8]. After Pieter Schumacher died, Anna was remarried to Cornelis Heineken and had four children, one of which was Gerard Heineken. Anna passed away in 1881.


 * Pyrrho the Skeptic (talk) 17:58, 21 October 2021 (UTC)

Thanks Pyrrho the Skeptic, this sounds fair enough.

How about we also asd the reference citing the will of his father, since that is a factual resource and I think quite relevant. So it would go like this?


 * Possible ties to the slave trade


 * On 15 February 1864, Gerard Adriaan Heineken bought De Hooiberg (the Haystack) brewery in Amsterdam [1]. It remains unclear whether the funds for the purchase of the Haystack came from his father, a cheese trader, who left a significant inheritance to Gerard, or his mother, whose estate included proceeds from her previous husband’s family’s historical investments in West Indies slave plantations.


 * In a letter to his mother 18 June 1863, Gerard discussed the potential Haystack purchase and his plans for the future.[4] Gerard’s mother, Anna Geertruida van de Paauw [5], came to own shares in slave plantations in Berbice (modern day Guyana) and Suriname through her first marriage in 1829 to Pieter Jacob Schumacher van Oudorp (1804–1833) [6] who passed away in 1833. The Schumacher family owned several plantations in Berbice and Suriname, according to records held at the UK’s National Archive [7] [8]. After Pieter Schumacher died, Anna was remarried to Cornelis Heineken and had four children, one of which was Gerard Heineken. Anna passed away in 1881.

Occasionalpedestrian (talk) 15:51, 22 October 2021 (UTC)


 * Personally, I find it more neutral without the father's inheritance addition. I'm going to step back and let weigh in if they'd like to before going any further. Pyrrho the Skeptic (talk) 15:59, 22 October 2021 (UTC)
 * I agree with @Pyrrho the Skeptic on this. His proposal is the way to go for me. Quetstar (talk) 16:46, 22 October 2021 (UTC)
 * This request has been answered, so I am closing this request. If something else is to be added, please open a new request below. Z1720 (talk) 20:45, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

Possible ties to the slave trade controversy????
Never heard of this so-called controversy and the segment doesn't even address any of it at all and is a hot mess.

Seems to me that a commufascist contributor wanted to score some woke points by adding it.

It should be deleted because it only exists in the contributor's brainless mind. 80.56.128.44 (talk) 12:22, 6 February 2022 (UTC)

lagunitas brewery not listed in Americas
Shouldn't Lagunitas be listed as one of the Heineken Americas breweries since they bought %100 stake in Lagunitas? 2600:1010:B11C:B1FB:944D:2879:6F8D:712C (talk) 23:53, 3 December 2022 (UTC)

✅ You are correct. Added now. Bastun Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 16:08, 4 December 2022 (UTC)