Alida de Jong

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Aaltje "Alida" de Jong (born December 18, 1885 in Amsterdam , † July 9, 1943 in the Sobibor extermination camp ) was a Dutch politician and trade unionist . In 2006 she was named union woman of the century by the Dutch trade union movement .

biography

Alida de Jong was a daughter of the skilled diamond worker and later milkman Levie de Jong and his wife Sarah Serlui. She had three brothers and a sister. It was actually called Aaltje , but from around 1905 it was called Alida . The family, who lived in a poor basement apartment, were devoutly Jewish and anti-socialist. After finishing school, which she would have liked to continue attending, she worked as a costume seamstress . Through her experiences in the world of work, the contact with left-wing colleagues and the influence of her older brother Sam, who was the first in the family to turn to socialism, she began to get involved in the labor movement.

In 1905 Alida de Jong became a member of the Nederlandse Bond van arbeiders in de Kledingindustrie and sat on the board from 1912 to 1940. From July 15, 1912, she worked part-time for the trade union in Amsterdam, becoming the first woman to get a paid job in the Dutch trade union movement, and in 1915 she was given a full position. From 1927 she also held board positions in the Sociaal-Democratische Arbeiderspartij (SDAP).

From 1931 to 1933 and then again from 1937, de Jong sat for the SDAP in the Second Chamber of the States General , and from 1935 she was a member of the Amsterdam municipal council. In the Second Chamber, she spoke primarily on work and social issues as well as defense. In December 1931 she played a leading role in the strikes at the Hollandia factories and in 1932 negotiated a labor dispute in the Amsterdam clothing industry . All these years Mej was. A. de Jong is usually the only woman in men's circles: "Een knotje tussen honderd snorren" ("A knot between 100 mustaches"). Alida de Jong regularly called on women to organize in the union at congresses and meetings.

De Jong was a "woman of stature," persistent and sharp-tongued, and she enjoyed smoking cigarillos . The abstinence preached by the socialists “was not given to her”. She was not married, but had a relationship with a married union colleague for years. Her lover's son would have liked to see the couple married, as Alida de Jong was "lovely and extremely warm." Up to the age of 42 she lived in her parents' poor apartment, now in the Niewe Kerkstraat . In 1926 she moved into a better apartment, where she lived with her sister Nanny, who ran the household, and her brother Jaap; she spent a lot of time with her nephews and nieces. In her free time she was interested in culture, had an insatiable thirst for knowledge, read a lot and attended concerts.

In 1940, at the behest of the German occupiers , Alida de Jong had to leave the Amsterdam municipal council and the union. Her nephew Loe de Jong , who later published the 14-part standard work Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog , asked her to flee with him to England, which she refused because she did not want to abandon her family. The brother Jaap died of a heart attack in 1941 .

On June 20, 1943, de Jong and her sister Nanny were arrested during a raid and taken to the Westerbork transit camp . From there the two women were deported to the Sobibor extermination camp , where they were murdered on July 9th. The two brothers who were still alive were also murdered, as well as Loe de Jong's twin brother, his sister and his mother.

memory

A school in Utrecht is named after Alida de Jong. There is an Alida de Jongzaal in the Amsterdam City Hall . In 2006 she was named union woman of the century by the Dutch trade union movement . Her estate is in archives, including in the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Peter-Paul de Baar: Jong, Alida de (1885-1943). Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland, January 22, 2015, accessed on November 24, 2016 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e Aaltje (Alida) de Jong. In: bwsa.socialhistory.org. Retrieved November 24, 2016 (Dutch).
  3. ^ Peter-Paul de Baar: Alida de Jong (1885-1943), een vakbondsvrouw van voor de oorlog. In: Joods Monument. April 27, 2011, accessed November 24, 2016 .
  4. ↑ a b c Peter-Paul de Baar: Alida de Jong (1885-1943). In: histornieuwsblad.nl. Retrieved November 24, 2016 (Dutch).
  5. ↑ Godfried de Jong. In: Joods Monument. Retrieved November 24, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Archief Vrouwenvakschool Alida de Jong. In: Archives Portal Europe. Retrieved November 24, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Jong, Alida de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jong, Aaltje de (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch local politician and trade unionist
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Amsterdam
DATE OF DEATH July 9, 1943
Place of death Sobibor extermination camp