‘Ed van Thijn has transformed his history and identity into a primal force’
Ed van Thijn had a long career in local and national politics. In addition to being a municipal councilor, Minister of the Interior and a member of the Senate and House of Representatives, he can also call himself the longest-serving post-war mayor of Amsterdam. From 1983 to 1994, he was at the helm in the capital, where he stood for a strong administration and a strong police force.
Frank de Grave worked closely with Van Thijn in the 1990s as deputy mayor of Amsterdam. But that was not the first thing the VVD member thought of when he heard of Van Thijn’s death. “He married my wife and me in 1983”, says De Grave, who also knew Van Thijn personally because they both participated in chess tournaments.
“When he was in the running for mayor, I said: ‘If you become mayor of Amsterdam, you must marry me and my wife. That mayorship was certainly not a runaway race: it was quite surprising that Van Thijn became it. Maybe that he thought: I’m not going to be mayor, let’s tell that cheeky young man that I will marry them. And in the end that happened, in the old council chamber. That was very special to experience.”
‘A real Amsterdammer’
De Grave worked very closely with Van Thijn from 1990 to 1994 until the PvdA member became Minister of the Interior. “He was a man with many managerial talents”, De Grave recalls. “Although of course I did not always agree with him, because we had a completely different political color.”
Despite being a VVD deputy mayor, he admired his PvdA colleague a lot. “For example, he played a fantastic role in the Bijlmer disaster, he was able to describe the feeling of the city and lead the college in a very difficult time.”
Van Thijn as a whole, who – sharing from his war members – are closely associated with Amsterdam. “He really protected that city, was a real Amsterdammer. That was recognized, and I think was the core of his success as mayor.”
source of inspiration
According to PvdA-prominent Felix Rottenberg, who is also a friend of the family, the position of mayor of Amsterdam Van Thijn was ultimately the best fit.
Among others, the deceased former mayor Eberhard van der Laan and the current mayor Femke Halsema thought by him, he says: