Harry Salomon van Geldere was a son of Benjamin van Geldere and Sara Frijda. His mother was murdered in Sobibor on 30 April 1943 and his fathet passed away already at the age of 61 in 1933 in Haarlem. Harry had a younger brother, named Salomon, who died at the age of 17 on 26 April 1926 in Haarlem.
When Harry married in Amsterdam on 19 June 1930 the non-Jewish Sophia Gerarda van der Heijde – a daughter of Cornelis van der Heijde and Bertha van Delden – he was employed as commercial traveller. On 28 September 1930 their son Hans Albert was born in Amsterdam.
Harry cam living in Amsterdam on 23 May 1930 in the Van der Hoopstraat 60 1st floor, but moved after the birth of their son on 6 November 1930 to Nieuwe Dijk 50 in Woerden. Thereafter they lived from April 1936 till January 1938 at Herengracht 46 in Middelburg, then at pelgrimsweg 41 in Tilburg but in May 1938 they moved again from Tilburg to Haarlem, Grote Houtstraat 132.
The marriage of Harry and Sophia did not last and by verdict of the District Court of Haarlem, the marriage has been dissolved on 18 February 1941 and registered in the register of marriages and divorces on 12 March 1941. The last known address of Harry Salomon van Geldere was Oranje Nassaulaan 9 in Overveen. His son Hans Albert remained living in the Grote Houtstraat 132 in Haarlem, probably with his mother.
On 25 October 1941, Harry Salomon van Geldere has been arrested by de SD in Haarlem as a black dealer. He would have sold metals. Upon his arrest, Harry was registerd as commission agent and as a “Schlosser” (fitter/mechanic/locksmith). Preventive detention was arranged by the SD in Den Haag and from 30 January 1942 till 23 March 1942 Harry stayed in Camp Amersfoort.
On 24 April 1942 he was put on transport to Buchenwald, from where, one month later, on 22 May 1942, he was sent to Mauthausen. There on 16 June 1942 he has lost his life there (due to what is known today, the harsh and inhumane conditions, diseases, shot dead on the run, or gassed in Schloss Hartheim).
Sources include the website openarchieven.nl/birth certificate Harry Salomon van Geldere from Haarlem and the Peoples Registries of Middelburg and Tilburg; the City Archive of Amsterdam/wedding certificate Van Geldere x Van der Heijde and the family registration card of Harry Salomon van Geldere; website wiewaswie.nl; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Harry Salomon van Geldere; website ITS Arolson/documents of Harry Salomon van Geldere re Buchenwald and Mauthausen and an addition of a visitor of the website.
This biography, written in 2016, has been completed and updated by the editors of Joods Monument on 11 April 2022.