Gerrit Willem Kastein was the son of Albertus Gererdus Kastein en Gerdina Leurink.
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Gerrit Willem Kastein was married. The couple had two children. The family lived in The Hague. He studied medicine in Groningen. In 1932, he moved to Heidelberg to follow a course. He married a German woman there. A year later, he returned to the Netherlands. He completed his studies in Leiden, specialised in neurology and obtained his doctoral degree just before the Nazi invasion.
Kastein was a member of radical parties, first of the Onafhankelijke Socialistische Partij (OSP), later of the CPN. He was the editor of the CPN paper 'Politiek en Cultuur'. He helped smuggle communists from Germany and took part in the Spanish Civil War in charge of an ambulance. At the beginning of the German occupation, he was attached to the Hague mutualty De Volharding. He became a leader of the sabotage group CS-6 in Amsterdam. He organised, among other things, the successful attack on 5 February 1943 on lieutenant-general Seyffardt, the commander of the Volunteers' Legion in the Netherlands. He took part in the attack on 7 February 1943 on the minister of Public Information, Reydon.
On 19 februari 1943, Kastein was arrested in a pub in Delft and transferred to the Binnenhof in The Hague. During the hearing, he jumped through the window from one of the floors. He was taken to Zuidwal hospital where he died on the same day.
NIOD, Erelijst Verzet en Koopvaardij, database made by J.W. de Leeuw;
B. Braber, Zelfs als wij zullen verliezen. Joden in verzet en illegaliteit in Nederland 1940-1945 (Amsterdam, 1990) 110-111, 146-146;
L. de Jong, Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Deel 6. Juli ’42-Mei ’43 (Den Haag 1975, 166-167