Gijs van Hall

Gijsbert "Gijs" van Hall (21 April 1904 – 22 May 1977) was a Dutch banker, resistance member and senator. He was Mayor of Amsterdam between 1957 and 1967.

Early life and banking career Gijs van Hall was born in Amsterdam in an influential Dutch family of bankers. At a young age, much of his early school career was interrupted due to infections of tuberculosis. Between 1923 and 1928 he studied law at the University of Leiden. Whilst his brother Walraven had connections with the resistance and is regarded as the leading figure behind the plot, Gijs leveraged his knowledge of finance and his position from inside the bank to write out false government bonds, which would ultimately raise a total of 83 million guilders in illegal loans to victims of the occupation and Dutch resistance fighters; equivalent to 450 million Euros as of 2021. Van Hall filled the vacancy for mayor of Amsterdam only a year thereafter, but stayed on as a senator throughout his entire tenure as mayor. He was re-elected in 1960, 1963 and 1966, then chose not to run for office again in 1971.

Mayor of Amsterdam On 1 February 1957, Van Hall took office as mayor of Amsterdam. During his time in office the city underwent major changes, including the construction of the IJtunnel, the first phase of the Bijlmermeer expansions, and the expansion of the University of Amsterdam. Van Hall frequently lobbied the national government over the execution and funding of large projects. He was characterized as a tough negotiator who preferred to rule the city without too much outside interference.

Van Hall attracted controversy over his response to Vietnam War protests in 1961, where a crowd that shouted "Johnson murderer" was found in violation of insulting the leader of an allied state, an offense at the time. An underfunded police force faced with the impossible task of arresting thousands of protesters resorted to violence to disperse the crowd instead. In the following years, riots and police violence would divide Amsterdam politically, with the police escalating more frequently as the scale of protests rose. Within this climate rose the Provo movement, which further sought out to provoke the police through non-violent action in order to get the media to report on police violence. Protesters and the public would blame Van Hall for police violence, whilst the Ministry of Justice raised their doubts on Van Hall's capability to maintain order. Van Hall's response was reportedly distant from the police, and a falling out with police commissioner Van Der Molen made further communication limited.

The final straw in Van Hall's career as mayor was a construction workers strike in June 1966, where 1 protester died; officially from a heart attack, but it was widely believed that police violence was to blame. In 1967, after investigations from the national government into the civil unrest, the Ministry of the Interior gave Van Hall the ultimatum to either be fired from his position or resign voluntarily. He chose not to resign so he could to await the report that outlined his failings, and was fired as mayor of Amsterdam on June 30, 1967. His resignation actually calmed the civil unrest in Amsterdam, as the Provos disbanded themselves after Van Hall's removal from office.

The Resistance Banker In 2018, The Resistance Banker (Dutch: Bankier van het Verzet), a dramatized cinematic film on the resistance actions of Walraven Van Hall was released, starring Jacob Derwig as Gijs van Hall.