David van Embden (October 22, 1875,

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

– February 14, 1962,

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), was a Dutch politician, first for the

Free-thinking Democratic League The Free-thinking Democratic League ( nl, Vrijzinnig Democratische Bond, VDB) was a progressive liberal political party in the Netherlands. Established in 1901, it played a relatively large role in Dutch politics, supplying one Prime Minister, Wi ...

( nl, Vrijzinnig Democratische Bond, VDB), later for the Labour Party (Dutch: ''Partij van de Arbeid'', PvdA). He studied law at the municipal university of Amsterdam and in 1901, he graduated ''cum laude''. Raised in the Portuguese Jewish community in the Netherlands, in 1905 he married a Christian. From 1905 to 1941 he was professor of economics and statistics at the municipal university of Amsterdam. From 1905 he was a party worker for the VDB in the Dutch

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

. From 1910 to 1916 he was a member of the

States-Provincial The provincial council (, PS), also known as the States Provincial, is the provincial parliament and legislative assembly in each of the provinces of the Netherlands. It is elected for each province simultaneously once every four years and has ...

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

for the district of Amsterdam. From 1918 to 1946 he was member of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. His sister was at that time also a member of parliament for the VDB. His pacifism was strongly influenced by his religious convictions and he was a proponent of national disarmament. He also advocated decolonization, and progressive social and economic programs. After the

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940 in 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 ...

, van Embden fled during the night of May 13–14, 1940 to the

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. After the war, in 1946, he returned to the Netherlands and joined the Labour Party (PvdA). He also became a member of the party's governing board for Amsterdam-East. Embden also resumed his professorship. Van Embden died in 1962.

References

Biographical Dictionary of the Netherlands - biography
(in Dutch)
Parlement.com biography
(in Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Embden, David van 1875 births 1962 deaths Converts to Protestantism from Judaism Dutch economists Dutch Jews Jewish Dutch politicians Dutch pacifists Dutch refugees Members of the Provincial Council of North Holland Free-thinking Democratic League politicians Jews who immigrated to the United Kingdom to escape Nazism Labour Party (Netherlands) politicians Members of the Senate (Netherlands) Politicians from The Hague Remonstrants University of Amsterdam alumni Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam