Goedewaagen's work along with the press was recognised by Austrian Nazi reichskommissar Arthur Seyss-Inquart, resulting in his appointment as secretary general in November 1940.

[1] He was the elder of two sons born to the banker Cornelis Tobie Goedewaagen, the founder of the Incasso Bank [nl], and Anna Bakker.

[2] Although Goedewaagen was dismissed by more senior members of the NSB, his efforts to nazify the press were recognized by Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the Austrian Nazi reichskommissar for the occupied Netherlands.

[2] Consequently, on 28 November of that year, he was made the first secretary general of the new Department of Public Information and the Arts [nl] that had been established by the Nazi regime.

[1] As secretary general, Goedewaagen became the first president of the Nederlandsche Kultuurkamer (Netherlands Chamber of Culture) when that institution was established by the Nazi regime on 25 November 1941.

In this capacity, he attempted to entice artists to register by creating new prizes and increasing the salaries afforded to performers.

[b][1] The chamber required candidates to submit an Aryan certificate to prove their racial purity,[6] and Goedewaagen vigorously promoted the elimination of Jewish artists and the banning of works produced by them.

[7] Between the politicization of art and the chamber's racial policies, Goedewaagen thus faced heavy resistance from artists, even with compulsory registration.

Feeling that the secretary-general failed to follow the example set by Nazi Germany's chief propagandist Joseph Goebbels, Mussert had arranged for Ernst Voorhoeve [nl] to lead the propaganda division of the Department of Public Information and the Arts.

[1] Amid rumours that his children were non-Aryan, spread by the NSB, Goedewaagen was appointed to Utrecht University as professor of philosophy.

[2] On 5 September 1944, after broadcasts alleged that Breda had been liberated by Allied forces, Goedewaagen was spotted at Utrecht station with his family, his possessions wrapped in a bedspread hung on his back.

[c][13] In his defence against charges that he had mandated the viewing of propaganda films, pressured media companies to publish images, and dissolved broadcasting associations, Goedewaagen argued that he had taken his wartime actions to prevent a greater calamity.

[14] On 15 December 1948, Goedewaagen was sentenced to twelve years' imprisonment, minus time served, and was stripped of his right to vote and hold office.

In a 1970 letter, the younger Goedewaagen wrote that his father disapproved of his poems, claiming that they were too negative or failed to adhere to classical standards.