Job Cohen

Job Cohen was born in Haarlem on 18 October 1947. He studied law in Groningen, earned a doctorate in Leiden and became a professor and rector of the university in Maastricht. He sat in the Dutch Senate from 1995 to 1998. As a junior justice minister from 1998 to 2001, he helped steer through parliament the law that opened marriage to same-sex couples.

He became mayor of Amsterdam on 15 January 2001, and a few months later got to put his own law into practice.

Midnight at city hall

The new law took effect on 1 April 2001. Just after midnight, in Amsterdam's city hall, Cohen married four same-sex couples, among them Hélène Faasen and Anne-Marie Thus, and Kees Neefjes and Rop Janze. They were the first same-sex marriages in the world, and that night Amsterdam made headlines everywhere.

Cohen saw his main task as 'de boel bij elkaar houden', keeping the city together by bringing its many communities closer. That mission was soon put to a harsh test.

2 November 2004

On 2 November 2004 filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered in Amsterdam by Mohammed Bouyeri. The killer left a letter with threats, including against Mayor Cohen. Cohen urged residents to make their anger heard, and that evening an estimated 20,000 people gathered on Dam Square, banging pots and drums. Cohen said he was not afraid: 'Amsterdam is, and remains, tolerant.'

Reprisals in the city stayed rare: a report counted 106 incidents nationwide, but only one was reported to Amsterdam police. Cohen's approach drew both praise and criticism. Critics called him too soft on integration; supporters admired his calm, bridge-building style. In 2008 he visited Amsterdam mosques to say he strongly disagreed with Fitna, the anti-Islam film by Geert Wilders. He also backed preventive stop-and-search.

On to The Hague

On 12 March 2010 Cohen stepped down to lead the Labour Party (PvdA) into the general election, succeeding Wouter Bos. He left the party leadership in February 2012 and later became a professor at Leiden. He received the Martin Luther King Prize and the city of Amsterdam's gold medal.