Marten "Martin" Zijlstra (22 July 1944 – 10 December 2014) was a Dutch politician. He started his political career as member of the States of Groningen, serving between 1974 and 1978. Starting in 1977 he served as Mayor of Termunten for thirteen years. He was a member of the

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 ...

of the Netherlands between 1989 and 2002 for the Labour Party and focused on interior affairs and defence policy. After his time as Representative he served two stints as acting mayor in Oldambt and

Schiermonnikoog Schiermonnikoog (; fry, ) is an island, a municipality and national park in the Northern Netherlands. Schiermonnikoog is one of the West Frisian Islands, and is part of the province of Friesland. It is situated between the islands of Ameland an ...

Career

Zijlstra was born in

Eenrum Eenrum is a village in the Dutch province of Groningen. It is located in the municipality of Het Hogeland, 17 km northwest of the city of Groningen. Eenrum was a separate municipality until 1990, then it was merged with Ulrum, Kloosterbur ...

. He received his primary and secondary education in the village and then studied further at the Hogere Burgerschool in the city of

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

. He served as

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...

at the Meteorological Service of the

Royal Netherlands Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = ''Parade March of the Royal Netherlands Air Force'' , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment ...

between 1961 and 1968. After his time with the armed forces he studied Dutch law at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is the ...

between 1969 and 1977. While he was studying he worked at Akzo Zout Chemie between 1968 and 1973. Afterwards he worked four years at the municipality of

Delfzijl Delfzijl (; gos, Delfsiel) is a city and former municipality with a population of 25,651 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. Delfzijl was a sluice between the Delf and the Ems, which became fortified settlement in ...

. Zijlstra started his political career as member of the States of Groningen and was elected for one four-year term in 1974. During his time in office he became mayor of Termunten in 1977, a position which he would hold for thirteen years, until the municipality merged in 1990. In the 1989 general elections he was elected to the

for the Labour Party. During his time as Representative he dealt mostly with interior affairs and defence policy, focusing on employment and veteran affairs. He served until 23 May 2002. In the same year he left the House of Representatives he served for one month in the municipal council of Delfzijl. In 2010 he was acting mayor of Oldambt for some months after the municipality had been merged. And in 2011–2012 he served several months as mayor of

after the previous mayor stepped down. Apart from his political career he also served in numerous boards of foundations and groups, including broadcaster

RTV Noord RTV Noord is a regional radio and television public broadcaster in Groningen, Netherlands. , its radio programs are broadcast on FM 97.5 MHz. It broadcasts TV and radio programming 24 hours per day, seven days a week. Some content is broadcas ...

for six years. Zijlstra was also chairman of the , the Dutch institute for military veterans, between March 2003 and February 2011. He was characterized as a real inhabitant of the province of

. He was invested as a Knight of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

on 22 May 2002. He died on 10 December 2014 in Woldendorp after a long illness.

References

External links

*
Parlement.com biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zijlstra, Martin 1944 births 2014 deaths Dutch veterans' rights activists Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau Labour Party (Netherlands) politicians Mayors in Groningen (province) Mayors of Schiermonnikoog Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Members of the Provincial Council of Groningen Municipal councillors in Groningen (province) People from De Marne Royal Netherlands Air Force personnel University of Groningen alumni