Gretta Duisenberg

Who is Gretta Duisenberg?

Gretta Duisenberg is a Dutch political activist and strong supporter of the Palestinians. She is currently facing criminal charges associated with racist content on her pro-Palestinian website. Although branded by some as a radical with irrational anti-Israeli sympathies, some see her as the contra-voice who simply stands up for the Palestinians by explaining about the unbalances in the conflict. She is the widow of Dutch Labour Party politician Wim Duisenberg who was also the first president of the European Central Bank.

Duisenberg was born as Greetje Nieuwenhuizen into a strict Protestant family in Heerenveen. She later studied nursing. Her first marriage was to the internist Bedier de Prairie, with whom she had three children. At that time she also started using the name Gretta. After their divorce, she became active in left-wing politics, human rights causes, and was briefly involved with Hans van Mierlo, at that time the Dutch Minister of Defense. She married Wim Duisenberg when he was president of De Nederlandsche Bank.

Gretta Duisenberg came to international attention in 2002 when the media reported that the president of the ECB had a Palestinian flag hanging from his house in Amsterdam.