David Jozef Wijnkoop was a son of rabbi Jozef David Wijnkoop. He studied Dutch philology at the Municipal University of Amsterdam. As a student, he became a member of the SDAP. After his BA examination, he cut short his studies and became a propagandist for the party. He disagreed with the more moderate (revisionist) direction followed by the leadership of the party. In 1907, he co-founded the marxist weekly 'De Tribune' with two associates and he managed it until 1925.
In 1909, it came to a split with the SDAP, after which he set up the Social-Democrat Party (SDP) which changed its name in 1918 to Communist Party Holland (CPH).
David Jozef Wijnkoop was a member of the Second Chamber (from 1918 to 1925 and from 1929 to 1949), of the Town Council of Amsterdam (from 1919 to 1940) and of the Provincial Council of North-Holland (from 1927 to 1940).
Immediately after the Nazi invasion, prominent communists and NSB officers were interned by the Dutch authorities. In the early morning of 10 May 1940, Wijnkoop was collected from his house by a detective and locked up in the penal prison of Hoorn, the Krententuin. On 15 May 1940, he was released and he returned to Amsterdam.
On 30 July 1940, Jews and communists were ordered off town councils. Wijnkoop and his wife went into hiding, first with fellow party-members and when it became too dangerous, with a family in Amsterdam-Zuid.
Wijnkoop was already ill. He had suffered a heart attack. A new heart attack on 7 May 1941 proved to be fatal. It was decided to report his death and to have him cremated by an undertaker. David Jozef Wijnkoop was cremated in Westerveld on 10 May 1941 with much public interest.
M.H. Gans, Memorboek. Platenatlas van het leven der joden in Nederland van de middeleeuwen tot 1940 (6e bijgewerkte druk; Baarn 1988) 577;
A.J. Koejemans, David Wijnkoop. Een mens in de strijd voor het socialisme (Amsterdam 1967), 286-300;
Grote Winkler Prins. Encyclopedie in twintig delen, deel 20 (Amsterdam 1975), 286-287
Biography