{{Short description|Dutch politician}} {{Infobox person | name = Alice Besseling | image = Alice Besseling young.jpg | alt = Portrait of Alice Besseling | birth_date = {{Birth date|1944|10|23}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cue-point.nl/glb/stamboom/IX.89-VIII.34.asp#X.ALI-IX.89|title=Stamboom Theodorus (Dorus) Besseling|language=nl|access-date=9 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309155046/http://www.cue-point.nl/glb/stamboom/IX.89-VIII.34.asp#X.ALI-IX.89|archive-date=9 March 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> | birth_place = Venhuizen | death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|01|22|1944|10|23}} | death_place = Leiden | other_names = Alida Cornelia Maria | political_party = CDA | awards = Order of Orange-Nassau }}
'''Alida Cornelia Maria "Alice" Besseling''' (23 October 1944 – 22 January 2014) was a city council member for the CDA in the Dutch city of Alphen aan den Rijn, and a local and social activist who was instrumental in the recognition of the Jewish cemetery in her hometown. For her work on the city council, her advocacy of women in her political party, and her community activism she was made a member of the Order of Orange-Nassau in 2008.
==Biography==
Alice Besseling was born into a Roman Catholic family in Hem, a small community in West-Friesland, in 1944. From a young age she was interested in governance, first in youth organizations and later in professional organizations{{spaced ndash}}in 1971 she was working for IBM when the Dutch government passed legislation mandating works councils for larger corporations, and she became the first elected member of the IBM works council.<ref>{{cite news|title=Portret, Alice Besseling: 'Je moet knokken als je echt iets wilt veranderen'|last=Asselt|first=Dennis van|date=February 2014|work=OR Informatie|page=15|language=nl}}</ref> After her marriage she moved to Alphen aan den Rijn, where in 1978 she was elected to the city council for the newly formed Christian Democratic Appeal, a centrist-right coalition of Christian parties. She served on the city council until 1990. During her tenure she was active in supporting weaker members of society; she claimed that "social policy is too important to leave to left-wing parties".<ref name="leidsch.nu">{{cite web|url=http://www.leidsch.nu/politiek/politiek/5059,in-memoriam-alice-besseling.html|title=In Memoriam: Alice Besseling|date=25 January 2014|publisher=Leidsch.nu|language=nl|access-date=10 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310141658/http://www.leidsch.nu/politiek/politiek/5059,in-memoriam-alice-besseling.html|archive-date=10 March 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> With a neighbor, Anke Bakker, she spent fifteen years researching the abandoned and razed Jewish cemetery on the Aarkade in Alphen aan den Rijn,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://casalphen.blogspot.com/2012/09/lezing-de-zichtbaarheid-van-de-joodse.html|title=Lezing: de zichtbaarheid van de Joodse gemeenschap in Alphen aan de Rijn|date=September 2012|publisher=Centrum Architectuur en Stedenbouw Alphen aan den Rijn|language=nl|access-date=31 January 2014|archive-date=6 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306213620/http://casalphen.blogspot.com/2012/09/lezing-de-zichtbaarheid-van-de-joodse.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> uncovering much of the local Jewish history in the process (later the topic of a book by Bakker<ref>{{cite web|url=http://meerboeken.nl/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=9955|title=Van Joodse begraafplaats tot Rustplaats Aarkade - Anne Bakker|year=2007|publisher=Meerboeken|language=nl|access-date=30 January 2014|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304095447/http://meerboeken.nl/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=9955|url-status=dead}}</ref>). In 2012, the city turned the abandoned cemetery into a city park and placed a monument remembering the Jewish community.<ref name="dichtbij">{{cite news|url=http://www.dichtbij.nl/alphen/uitgaan-en-vrije-tijd/artikel/2427498/joodse-begraafplaats-omgevormd-tot-stadspark.aspx|title=Joodse begraafplaats omgevormd tot stadspark - Alphen aan den Rijn|date=16 September 2012|publisher=Dichtbij.nl|language=nl|access-date=30 January 2014}}</ref> Besseling was a founding member of the local women's group for the CDA, and until her death she was a member of her party's provincial women's group.<ref name=frequin>{{cite news|url=http://www.dichtbij.nl/alphen/regionaal-nieuws/artikel/3352626/oud-cdaraadslid-alice-besseling-19442014-overleden.aspx|title=Oud CDA-raadslid Alice Besseling (1944-2014) overleden|last=Frequin|first=Vincent|date=28 January 2014|publisher=Dichtbij.nl|access-date=30 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306213613/http://www.dichtbij.nl/alphen/regionaal-nieuws/artikel/3352626/oud-cdaraadslid-alice-besseling-19442014-overleden.aspx|archive-date=6 March 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2008, her contributions to the community were rewarded with membership in the Order of Orange-Nassau.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leidenuniv.nl/nieuwsarchief2/2267.html|title=Overvloedige Leidse lintjesregen|date=29 April 2008|publisher=Leiden University|language=nl|access-date=31 January 2014|archive-date=21 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921181251/https://www.leidenuniv.nl/nieuwsarchief2/2267.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
After resigning from the Alphen city council, she worked for eleven years at the Centre for Law in the Information Society at Leiden University, and retired in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://law.leidenuniv.nl/nieuws-2013/alice-besseling-overleden.html|title=Alice Besseling overleden|date=30 January 2014|publisher=Leiden University|language=nl|access-date=30 January 2014}}</ref>
Other community activities in Alphen includes founding<ref name="leidsch.nu"/> and serving as a board member of a dance club for elderly singles,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1012/Nederland/article/detail/2126777/2008/10/22/Dansclub-weg-omdat-drankje-ontbreekt.dhtml|title=Dansclub weg omdat drankje ontbreekt|date=22 October 2008|work=Algemeen Dagblad|language=nl|access-date=30 January 2014}}</ref> as president of the local athletic association Avanti,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.deweekkrant.nl/pages.php?page=2440037|title=Avanti bruist na vijftig jaar nog als vanouds|last=Egmond|first=Theo van|date=8 November 2012|work=Alphens Nieuwsblad|language=nl|access-date=31 January 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221214753/http://www.deweekkrant.nl/pages.php?page=2440037|archive-date=21 February 2014}}</ref> and as lector in Alphen's St. Boniface church.<ref name=frequin/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Besseling, Alice}} Category:1944 births Category:2014 deaths Category:Christian Democratic Appeal politicians Category:Dutch women activists Category:Dutch activists Category:Dutch women in politics Category:Municipal councillors in South Holland Category:People from Alphen aan den Rijn Category:People from Venhuizen Category:Recipients of the Order of Orange-Nassau