Documentary Ed van Thijn

Ed van Thijn: A war that never ended

The documentary is about a man who, as a Jewish child in Amsterdam, experienced just about everything you can experience as a Jewish child during World War II: Persecution, transport and stay at Camp Westerbork, escape, 18 hiding addresses, betrayal, again Camp Westerbork but this time as a child alone. Liberation in Camp Westerbork, the wrong Dutch who were then imprisoned there and guarded by former prisoners.... The reunion with his parents who sent him to the psychiatrist as a child where he received electroshock therapy and thought: I will remain silent for the rest of my life about what happened to me during the war.

This 10-year-old boy eventually becomes a Member of Parliament, Party Chairman of the Dutch Labour Party and eventually Minister of the Interior. He then serves for 11 years as Mayor of the capital city of Amsterdam, which he had to flee as an 8-year-old boy because of persecution. In all his positions, he never spoke about this traumatizing period that shaped him. I had the opportunity to interview him in depth about that formative period in the war and why he never spoke about it. And what impact it had on him the rest of his life.

The life story of the longest serving mayor of Amsterdam, is a story that needs to be told. Ed van Thijn has been of great importance to the Netherlands and this documentary shows how a young boy so damaged, nevertheless manages to hold his own and has been so impactful in the world around him. Work must have been a way out for him, too. "Turning off my feelings. Setting my mind to zero. To throw myself into the work at hand. My escape was far from over'". The documentary offers an impressive picture of his coping mechanisms.

The documentary reveals that despite his successful career, the child in him always remained in hiding. And what that cost him in the rest of his life. In the love relationships with his three spouses but also with his children. For the documentary, his wife and children were interviewed, which gives an interesting look at the man he was and the relationships he had. The war carries with you forever.