A striking Amsterdammer has passed away. As a Jewish boy from the Rivierenbuurt, Ed van Thijn embodied the gruesome history of Amsterdam. Despite betrayal, he survived going into hiding. What traces has he left in the history and collection of the Amsterdam Museum?
Ed van Thijn receiving the Miracle Box in the Amsterdam Historical Museum, 21 March 1985, photo Croes, Rob C. / Anefo, National Archives collection
During the period that he was mayor of Amsterdam (1983-1994) he opened many exhibitions. It wasn’t just official. He was really enthusiastic regarding the museum, regarding the collection and regarding our role in the city. He was a member of the board of the foundation that manages the Dreesman loan and was involved in various exhibitions.
In 1983 he said at the opening of All Amsterdammers regarding the migration city of Amsterdam: ‘You can only see an exhibition regarding ethnic minorities in this fantastic museum’. Precisely because of his own background, the way a city treats people of various ethnic backgrounds was a subject in which he was very closely involved. When the black teenager Kerwin Duinmeijer was murdered that same year, he organized a large conference at the town hall to discuss how to prevent something like this from happening in the future.
Anti-apartheid
He was also one of the fiercest advocates of the struggle once morest apartheid in South Africa. A personal memory: when Mandela was released on February 11, 1990, Van Thijn had come to the office of the Anti-Apartheid Movement to watch the live broadcast in a room full of cheering activists. ‘Amsterdam is for us the symbol of the anti-apartheid struggle,’ said ANC leader Mandela on a video tape made for his farewell as mayor of Amsterdam in 1994. Van Thijn, now a minister in the Lubbers III cabinet, opened some time later the exposition Netherlands once morest apartheid in the Amsterdam Historical Museum.
Jeroen Henneman, Ed van Thijn, 1998
In the collection of the Amsterdam Museum is a beautiful portrait that Jeroen Henneman made in 1998 for the portrait gallery in the town hall, drawing and sculpture at the same time. The many promotional gifts in the city collection for mayor van Thijn say more regarding the givers than regarding the recipient.
Conflicts
A (virtual) exhibition regarding Van Thijn’s years as mayor would contain objects that testify to the often dramatic events of those years, such as the fierce conflicts between the squatters’ movement and the authorities, which even resulted in an attack on the official residence in November 1985 by the action group ‘Autonomous Cells Netherlands’. A t-shirt from the Ozon collection with the text ‘You killed Hans Kok, we will catch you’ refers to this.
The collection also contains objects related to the Bijlmer disaster of 4 October 1992, when an El Al plane crashed into two Bijlmer flats and Van Thijn might be found in the crisis center under the Amsterdam town hall for almost three weeks without interruption.
Butoon I obeyed
A less successful portrait of Van Thijn can be found on this button. The suggestion that mayor van Thijn tolerated heroin use is not justified. With might and main he fought the nuisance on the Zeedijk. He chased addicts and dealers through bans on gatherings, but at the same time introduced ‘damage control’ through assistance and methadone provision. It was the start of a twofold Amsterdam policy on drugs: a tough approach to hard drugs, such as heroin, and toleration of soft drugs such as weed and hashish.
Not yet represented in the collection are Van Thijn’s attempts to get the Olympic Games to Amsterdam. Some time ago I looked at his partner’s photos, brochures and glasses in the shape of Olympic rings in his personal collection. Due to corona, this acquisition has come to a halt for a while, but we also hope to add these objects to the city’s collection.
Reconciliation
Finally, a personal reminder. On Queen’s Day 1988, we sailed on the Amstel in a boat with Carry van Lakerveld, deputy director of the Amsterdam Historical Museum. Carry saw Van Thijn in a tour boat and waved. He greeted back and to our amazement we suddenly saw Queen Beatrix standing next to him. It was the start of the Queen’s ‘reconciliation visit’, partly arranged in secret by Van Thijn, to the city that had shown its grimmest side during its inauguration in 1980.
Committed and decisive
We will not forget Ed van Thijn, our mayor in those turbulent 1980s, and we are inspired both inside and outside the museum by his vision, social involvement and decisiveness.
From the Amsterdam Museum, employees and former employees, we wish his family strength. We think of them, and let Ed van Thijn live on in our stories and the tangible memories in the museum.
