Betje Katwijk was the eldest of the nine children of Jacob Katwijk and Sara Gobes. She was born on 1 August 1890 in Amsterdam and she was a seamstress by profession. She married only at the age of 50 in Assen the 60-year old widower of Judikje Troostwijk, Daniel van Gelder, who was born on 3 March 1881 in Assen as a son of Salomon van Gelder and Fogeltje de Lange.
The then 30-year olf Judikje Troostwijk was the first wife of Daniel van Gelder; they married in Assen on 17 August 1910. Judikje was born in Leeuwarden on 14 January 1880 as a daughter of the merchant Samuel Troostwijk and Doortje Troostwijk. She passed away on 5 January 1941 in Assen and was interred there in the Jewish Cemetery. Judikje and Daniel had a son Samuel and a daughter Fogeltje, who were both murdered with their families in Auschwitz.
In the end of March 1937 the 37-year old and still unmarried Betje left her parental home for an own address at Amstelkade 55 2nd floor in Amsterdam. There she found living space with Albertus Kubus. Also her mother, Sara Gobes, who was widowed in July 1920, left in June 1937 her lodging she had with Willem Slingerland in the Tweede Jan van der Heijdenstraat 18 2nd floor for the Andreas Bonnstraat 42 1st floor where her daughter Mietje lived, who was married in February 1937 to the non-Jewish Theodorus Arie Lewis, and moved in with them.
In February 1938 Betje moved to Transvaalstraat 8 2nd floor in Amsterdam-East, lived in 1940 for a short time at Kuipersstraat 43 2nd floor and at Amstelkade 56 1st floor. Because of plans to marry the 60-year-old widower of Judikje Troostwijk, Daniel van Gelder, she left on 17 March 1941 for Assen, where she came to live at Steendijk 27; the marriage was performed then on 21 April 1941 in Assen. Betje's mother Sara Gobes was undoubtedly present at that wedding and afterwards still remained there to spent some more time with her daughter and son-in-law in Assen.
What exactly happened afterwards is unclear: it could be the longer presence of Betje's mother Sara Gobes, or that a quarrel arose between the "newly married". But from the day and night reports of the Assen municipal police, it appears that Daniel van Gelder evicted his wife Betsy/Betje Katwijk and his mother-in-law on 11 June 1941 after a row. On June 12, Betsy sells the curtains to the neighbor to be able to pay for the return trip to Amsterdam”. (source archives of Drenthe).
Two months after her departure to Steendijk 27 in Assen, Betje van Gelder-Katwijk returned to Amsterdam on 25 June 1941, alone, where she found shelter with her sister Rachel Katwijk at 95 III Ruyschstraat, who was married to Abraham Pront. Betje's mother Sara Katwijk-Gobes had already returned from Assen to her address Andreas Bonnstraat 42 in Amsterdam. On 6 June 1942, Betje Katwijk moved again and alone to what would become her last and known address: Rubensstraat 50 parterre in Amsterdam-South, where she found a place to live with the Mozes Keijzer family.
From the Archives of the Dutch Red Cross, one of the transport lists of 10 August 1942 shows that Betje van Gelder-Katwijk was transported by train from Amsterdam to Hooghalen on that date. After arrival at the Hooghalen station, a distance of 5 km had still to be covered on foot to arrive actually in the Westerbork camp. Betje van Gelder Katwijk was immediately deported then with the transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz and on arrival on 12 August 1942, she was immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
However, it is unclear what has happened to Daniel van Gelder, after he evicted his wife Betje Katwijk on 11 June 1941 from his home. The Joods Monument states that he was murdered in Auschwitz on 2 November 1942.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card of Jacob Katwijk, family registration card and archive card of Betje Katwijk; reference card Daniel van Gelder/Betje Katwijk; various residence cards of Amsterdam; the Archives of Drenthe/police reports 1941; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Betje van Gelder; the archives of the Dutch Red Cross/transport list Amsterdam-Hooghalen/Betje Katwijk and the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl.