Willem "Wim" Polak (14 September 1924 – 1 October 1999) was a Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and economist. Polak was born to a Jewish merchant family in Amsterdam on 14 September 1924. His parents were murdered by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

during the

German Occupation of the Netherlands Despite Dutch neutrality, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of Fall Gelb (Case Yellow). On 15 May 1940, one day after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces surrendered. The Dutch government and the royal family re ...

. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he worked as a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

for ''Het Vrije Volk''. Polak was appointed Secretary of State for local finances in

Joop den Uyl Johannes Marten den Uijl, better known as Joop den Uyl (; 9 August 1919 – 24 December 1987) was a Dutch politician and economist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1973 to 1977. He was a member of the Labour Party (PvdA). ...

's government. He worked towards improving the financial position of the larger Dutch cities. Subsequently, he became mayor of Amsterdam for a six-year period, where his challenges included numerous

squatting Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

cases as well as

riot A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targete ...

s related to

Queen Beatrix Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husband ...

's coronation. He died in 1999 at his home in

Ilpendam Ilpendam is a village in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is a part of the municipality of Waterland, and lies about 4 km south of Purmerend. It covers an area of 2.46 km2 (0.95 sq mi) and had 1,780 inhabitants in 2008. Ilp ...

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
W. (Wim) Polak
Parlement & Politiek 1924 births 1999 deaths Aldermen of Amsterdam Commanders of the Order of Orange-Nassau Deaths from cancer in the Netherlands Dutch corporate directors Dutch Jews Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch newspaper editors Dutch people of World War II Dutch political writers Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Mayors of Amsterdam Members of the Council of State (Netherlands) Jewish Dutch politicians Jewish Dutch writers Jewish mayors of places in the Netherlands People from Waterland State Secretaries for the Interior of the Netherlands University of Amsterdam alumni 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch economists 20th-century Dutch male writers 20th-century Dutch politicians 20th-century Dutch journalists {{Netherlands-PvdA-politician-stub