Xaviera Hollander is a Dutch former call girl, madam and author. She is best known for her best-selling memoir The Happy Hooker: My Own Story.
Sebilla Alida Johanna Niemans, known as Blonde Dolly, was a Dutch prostitute and businesswoman who was murdered by strangulation. Her murderer was never caught.
Prostitution in the Netherlands is legal and regulated. Operating a brothel is also legal. De Wallen, the largest and best-known Red-light district in Amsterdam, is a destination for international sex tourism.
Jeroen Aart Krabbé is a Dutch actor, film director and painter with a successful career in both Dutch- and English-language films. He is best known to international audiences for his leading roles in the Paul Verhoeven films Soldier of Orange (1977) and The Fourth Man (1983), for playing the villain General Georgi Koskov in the James Bond film The Living Daylights (1987) and his parts in The Prince of Tides (1991), The Fugitive (1993), and Immortal Beloved (1994). His 1998 directorial debut, Left Luggage, was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival.
The history of the Jews in the Netherlands largely dates to the late 16th century and 17th century, when Sephardic Jews from Portugal and Spain began to settle in Amsterdam and a few other Dutch cities, because the Netherlands was an unusual center of religious tolerance. Since Portuguese Jews had not lived under rabbinic authority for decades, the first generation of those embracing their ancestral religion had to be formally instructed in Jewish belief and practice. This contrasts with Ashkenazi Jews from central Europe, who, although persecuted, lived in organized communities. Seventeenth-century Amsterdam was referred to as the "Dutch Jerusalem" for its importance as a center of Jewish life. In the mid 17th century, Ashkenazi Jews from central and eastern Europe migrated. Both groups migrated for reasons of religious liberty, to escape persecution, now able to live openly as Jews in separate organized, autonomous Jewish communities under rabbinic authority. They were also drawn by the economic opportunities in the Netherlands, a major hub in world trade.
Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs was a Dutch physician and women's suffrage activist. As the first woman officially to attend a Dutch university, she became one of the first female physicians in the Netherlands. In 1882, she founded the world's first birth control clinic and was a leader in both the Dutch and international women's movements. She led campaigns aimed at deregulating prostitution, improving women's working conditions, promoting peace and calling for women's right to vote.
Isaac Aboab da Fonseca was a rabbi, scholar, kabbalist, and religious writer. In 1656, he was one of several elders within the Portuguese-Jewish community in Amsterdam and for a time in Dutch Brazil before the Portuguese reconquest. He was one of the religious leaders who excommunicated philosopher Baruch Spinoza in 1656.
Ahmed Aboutaleb is a Dutch politician of Moroccan origin. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), he has served as Mayor of Rotterdam since 2009. In January 2024, he announced he would resign the post later in the year, being officially succeeded on 10 October 2024 by Carola Schouten.
Lodewijk Frans Asscher is a Dutch politician and jurist who served as Leader of the Labour Party (PvdA) from 2016 to 2021 and parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives from 2017 to 2021.
Raymond Christiaan Rensen a.k.a. Raymzter is a Dutch rapper.
Johan Willem van Hulst was a Dutch school director, university professor, author, politician, chess player and centenarian. In 1943, with the help of the Dutch resistance and students of the nearby University of Amsterdam, he was instrumental in saving over 600 Jewish children from the nursery of the Hollandsche Schouwburg who were destined for deportation to Nazi concentration camps. For his humanitarian actions he received the Yad Vashem distinction Righteous Among the Nations from the State of Israel in 1973.
Onno Hoes is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businessman. He was the acting Mayor of Haarlemmermeer from 28 November 2017 till 10 July 2019
Cornelis "Cor" Schuuring is a retired Dutch road and track cyclist. His sporting career began with Olympia Amsterdam. He won a bronze medal in the 4,000 m team pursuit along with Henk Cornelisse, Gerard Koel and Jaap Oudkerk at the 1964 Summer Olympics.
Hendrik Jan Willem "Henk" Cornelisse is a retired Dutch cyclist. His sporting career began with Olympia Amsterdam. He won a bronze medal in the 4 km team pursuit along with Cor Schuuring, Gerard Koel and Jaap Oudkerk at the 1964 Summer Olympics. He also won the Ronde van Noord-Holland and Ronde van Overijssel in 1962 and one stage of the Olympia's Tour in 1964.
Hollandsche Schouwburg is a museum in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
Benno Premsela was a Dutch designer, visual artist and art collector. As designer he was active as textile artist, industrial designer and interior designer.
David Cohen was a Dutch classicist and papyrologist and one of the two chairs of the Jewish Council of Amsterdam during the occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. He was Professor of Ancient History at the University of Amsterdam and a prominent Zionist leader.
Betty Goudsmit-Oudkerk was a Dutch resistance member.
Don Guno Maria Ceder is a Dutch lawyer and politician, serving as a member of House of Representatives since the 2021 general election.
Rudolf "Ruud" Verkuijlen is a Dutch police commissioner, civil servant, and politician. A member of the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), he was appointed to the House of Representatives in September 2021 after having participated in the 2021 general election. He lost his bid for re-election in November 2023. He previously worked for the National Police and served on the Hilversum municipal council in the years 2014–21.
