Sientje Wilhelmina van Geldere was the eldest daughter in the family of Isodore van Geldere and Eva Nort. She was born on 29 October 1920 in Den Bosch and lived “at home” with her parents and siblings. Her parents moved more than once to other cities in the Netherlands but in the end of May 1933, Sientje and the other family members came to live from Arnhem in Amsterdam. They then lived at Rapenburg 84, since mid August 1934 in the Dani Theronstraat 33 and per 15 December 1937 in the Vrolikstraat 87 1st floor. Sientje was a seamstress by profession.
On 20 July 1942 Sientje van Geldere married in Amsterdam the presser Meijer Stodel, who was born on 14 September 1915 in Amsterdam as a son of Jacob Stodel and Elisabeth Premselaar. The Stodel family, consisting of father, mother and their sons Jesaia and Meijer, lived in the Reitzstraat 10 ground floor in Amsterdam-East. His father was a cigar maker and presser of clothes. Jesaia was an office clerk and Meijer self was also presser by profession.
The registration cards from the file cabinet of the Jewish Council of Sientje van Geldere as well of Meijer Stodel show that they were called up for the deportation transport of 21 July 1942, together with her sister Wilhelmina Magdalena and her brother Saul. The Jewish Council (dr. Louis Izaak Barmat – inspector Westerbork) granted a temporary postponement however a new train ticket had to be issued. The registration card of Sientje shows that: BNH – which means “Biljet Naar Hooghalen”- Ticket To Hooghalen, and the fledgling newlyweds were registered in Westerbork on 23 July and deported to Auschwitz on 27 August 1942.
Upon arrival on 28 or 29 July in Auschwitz, both were put to work there in forced labour. Not known is where Meijer Stodel ended up. From the death registers of Auschwitz (Sterbebücher), is known however, that he was murderd there on 17 August 1942 but the Dutch Authorities established after the war, that Meijer Stodel has died there on 18 August 1942 and commissioned the Municpality of Amsterdam to draw up a certificate of death for him in which the date of his death officially was established as on 18 August 1942 in Auschwitz.
Upon arrival in Auschwitz, also Sientje van Geldere was put to work but about her is also nothing known, i.e. in which “Arbeitskommando” – labor command – she has ended up, nor the exact date when she lost her life there. Therefore the Dutch Authorities after the war have established, also based on testimonials of survivors, research and other informations, that Sientje Wilhelmina Stodel-van Geldere no longer could be alive after 30 September 1942. The Municpality of Amsterdam was commissioned to draw up a certificate of death for her in which was established that she has died in Auschwitz on 30 September 1942.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card of Isodore van Geldere, archive cards of Jacob Stodel, Meijer Stodel and Sientje Wilhelmina van Geldere; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Sientje Wilhelmina Stodel-van Geldere and Meijer Stodel and the certificates of death made out in Amsterdam, nr. 17 from the A-register 50-fol.4v dated 15 September 1950 for Sientje van Geldere and nr. 528 from the A-register 50 folio 90 dated 15 September 1950 for Meijer Stodel.