Hammelburg was born in 1982 inHilversum,North Holland as the son of comedian, writer, and journalistSimon Hammelburg.[3][4] When he was young, his parents divorced, and he moved with his mother and sister from theAmsterdam neighborhood ofBuitenveldert toOosterbeek, located in theArnhem area.[4] Hammelburg grew up there, and he studiedpolitical science andArab studies at theUniversity of Amsterdam in the years 2002–12.[5] He also spent a year atTel Aviv University and started teaching political science at the university in 2008.[4][5] He left the university in April 2015 to work as an international policy officer for LGBT rights organizationCOC Nederland, a position he held until his election to the House of Representatives.[6][7]
Hammelburg served as a member of the board of the North Holland/Flevoland chapter of theYoung Democrats, the youth organization ofDemocrats 66.[8] He was elected to the thirteen-memberAmsterdam-Centrum district committee in the2014 municipal elections.[9] He had also been D66's sixteenth candidate for the Amsterdam municipal council in that election, but his party won fourteen seats.[10]
In April 2017, Hammelburg replaced Amsterdam municipal councilorJan Paternotte, because Paternotte had been elected to theHouse of Representatives.[11] Hammelburg simultaneously left the district council.[12] He was re-elected in the2018 municipal election, having appeared fourth on the party list.[13] Hammelburg served as vice caucus leader, and his specializations were finances, economic affairs, sex workers, drugs, housing, and construction.[8][14] In the council, he advocated replacinglead service lines, and he created a plan to make the city center more attractive to Amsterdam citizens.[15][16]
Hammelburg was placed twenty-third on the candidate list of D66 for the2021 general election.[17] He was elected into theHouse of Representatives on 17 March with 841preference votes and was installed two weeks later.[18][19] Hammelburg vacated his seat in the Amsterdam municipal council the same day.[2] He was D66's spokesperson for foreign trade, development cooperation, defense, finances, tax affairs, financial markets, and amending article 1 of theDutch constitution.[20] Hammelburg is part of the Dutch parliamentary delegation to theOSCE and the United States contact group, and he is a member of the Committees for Defense; for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy; for Finance; for Foreign Affairs; for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation; and for Public Expenditure.[3]
WhenRussia invaded Ukraine in 2022, he proposed for the Dutch government to start setting aside money for the reconstruction of Ukraine, comparing it to theMarshall Plan.[21] He also wanted to provide at least €100 million for the reconstruction effort following the2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake, but Minister for Foreign Trade and Development CooperationLiesje Schreinemacher responded that she did not have the money available.[22][23] Together withLaura Bromet (GL) andHabtamu de Hoop (PvdA), he continued an effort to amend article 1 of theConstitution of the Netherlands to add disability and sexual orientation as grounds on which discrimination is prohibited. Both houses of parliament had already voted in favor of the amendment, but a constitutional amendment required a second affirmative vote following elections. The Senate eventually passed it for a second time in January 2023.[24]
^abcdKleijwegt, Margalith."Joods in de Kamer" [Jewish in the House](PDF).Benjamin (in Dutch). Vol. 32, no. 125. JMW. pp. 10–13. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 9 October 2021. Retrieved9 October 2021.
^abStrikkers, Henk (23 March 2021)."24 oud-UvA'ers in nieuwe Tweede Kamer" [24 former UvA students in the new House of Representatives].Folia (in Dutch). Retrieved23 May 2021.
^"Proces-verbaal verkiezingsuitslag Tweede Kamer 2021" [Report of the election results House of Representatives 2021](PDF).Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 29 March 2021. pp. 62–100, 188. Retrieved21 December 2023.
Bold indicates theparliamentary leader (first mentioned) and theSpeaker; (Brackets) indicate a temporarily absent member; Italics indicate a temporary member; ‹Guillemets› indicate a member who has left the House of Representatives
