Robert Herman (Rob) Oudkerk (born 20 March 1955 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

) is a Dutch

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and

general practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...

. Oudkerk was born in Amsterdam. He was the son of a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

butcher and a nurse. His grandfather was David Cohen, who was President of the

Jewish Council A ''Judenrat'' (, ) was an administrative body, established in any zone of German-occupied Europe during World War II, purporting to represent its Jewish community in dealings with the Nazi authorities. The Germans required Jews to form ''J ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He has served as a member of the Dutch

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

for the

Dutch Labour Party The Labour Party ( , PvdA or P van de A ) is a social democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1946 as a merger of the Social Democratic Workers' Party, the Free-thinking Democratic League and the Christian ...

and as

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

of education in Amsterdam. During his time as a local politician in Amsterdam, he was beset by scandals, such as that he frequented a streetwalking zone for drug-addicted prostitutes, while still being a general practitioner. When the Labour Party formed an electoral alliance with

GroenLinks (, ; GL) is a Green politics, green List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four Left-wing politics, left-wing parties: the Communist Party of the Neth ...

in the early 2020s, Oudkerk supported Rood Vooruit, an initiative founded in 2023 that has been critical of merger plans.

References

External links

Decriminalize Prostitution Now Coalition article
1955 births Living people Aldermen of Amsterdam Dutch Jews Dutch general practitioners Dutch political commentators Jewish Dutch politicians Labour Party (Netherlands) politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Municipal councillors of Amsterdam Political scandals in the Netherlands Political sex scandals in the Netherlands Sex scandals in the Netherlands {{Netherlands-PvdA-politician-stub