Louis Josephus Maria van de Laar (24 December 1921 – 25 January 2004) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and historian.

Van de Laar attended the minor seminary in Sint-Michielsgestel and subsequently the Sint-Janslyceum [nl] (a gymnasium) in 's-Hertogenbosch.

[1] He continued his studies in history from 1945 to 1946 at the Sorbonne and École pratique des hautes études (Paris).

From 1963 to 1965, he was state secretary at the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science in the Marijnen cabinet for the Catholic People's Party.

[2] During his mandate he succeeded in enticing Philip Morris and General Electric Plastics to build large production centres in Bergen op Zoom and initiated the restoration of the city palace, the Markiezenhof [nl].