Ode to Maria Gijsberta van Dam | Politically engaged and active mother

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My mother was born in Amsterdam in 1919. Already in her puberty, her parents made her work as a seamstress to contribute financially. Her childhood was not pleasant, as a girl she was allowed little, her brother on the other hand was allowed ‘everything’. In 1942, she married my father. He was a municipal civil servant and had to go into hiding shortly after the marriage. My mother was then allowed to work at the town hall as a civil servant's wife to still earn income - and to contribute to keeping the municipality running. After the liberation, this work stopped.

When her three children, born after the war, were older, she became active in the Union of Women Volunteers. In this, she helped many disabled elderly people and later became a board member. She was also active in the 'Rooie Vrouwen' (Red Women), the feminist network of the Dutch Labour Party. 

It is also worth mentioning that in the 1970s, Maria supervised the first VOS courses in Amsterdam, which stood for 'Vrouwen Oriënteren zich in de Samenleving' (Women Orienting in Society). The VOS programme had been developed in 1972 by Krijnie Verlaan for the North Holland Cultural Council and was an opportunity for many women to develop from there.