Robert Heiman van Gelder was the first son from the second marriage of Jacob van Gelder and Betjen Hemelrijk, after Jacob van Gelder became widower of Betjen’s sister, Rosetta Hemelrijk. Robert Heiman was born on 8 February 1898 in Amsterdam and he was director milk control by profession. In later years he became a veterinary surgeon.
On 22 September 1926, Robert Heiman married in Amsterdam Rebecca de Souza, who was born on 11 May 1896 in Hilversum as daughter of Aron de Souza and Maria Siegbertha Haigton. Robert lived at Van Baerlestraat since June 1925; before that, he resided in Utrecht.
In June 1926 he moved to Amstelveenseweg 128 ground floor, where his wife came living in per September en where he also runned his practice as veterinary surgeon. There, both their daughters were born, Robinette and Berthe Marie. The Van Gelder family lived there, but most likely soon after the outbroke of the war and the imposition of the myriad anti-Jewish measures, they went into hiding, as evidenced by post-war notes on their Jewish Council registration cards.
However, in December 1941, Robert Heiman van Gelder was arrested for two traffic violations. He was fined 15 Gulden, but the SD also noted a German-hostile attitude in him for using anti-German language, so that he was placed in protective custody by the SD and was transferred to Kamp Amersfoort on 30 January 1942, where he had to stay until 23 March 1942.
On 24 April 1942, Robert Heiman was registered in concentration camp Buchenwald and on 22 May 1942 transferred to Mauthausen. Together with Robert Heiman van Gelder, also Moses Goldstein, Harry van Geldern, Robert van Geldern, Henry Cauveren and Mendel Rotenberg were transferred from Buchenwald to Mauthausen. The total cost of this transport was 175,32 Reichs Mark. However the transfer fee of RM 61,-- has been dedcuted from the balance of Robert van Gelder. (Die Ueberweisungsspesen RM 61,-- wurden von Guthaben des Van Gelder, Robert, in Abzug gebracht.)
From the remaining administration it appeared that Robert van Gelder has entered the concentration camp Mauthausen on 30 May 1942. And on 17 June 1942, his death announcement followed: “um 15.15. Uhr auf der Flucht erschossen”- shot dead during an escape attempt.
Before Rebecca van Gelder-de Souza went into hiding, she was employed with the Jewish Council at the General Service. However, after her husband was arrested and via Camp Amersfoort, concentration camp Buchenwald had ended up in Mauthausen, she too decided to go into hiding with her children.
However, it is unknown where they were hiding. Both the children Robinette and Berthe Marie have surivived the Holocaust but Rebecca van Gelder-de Souza was arrested on 4 June 1943 and carried off to Westerbork, where she was housed in barrack 63.
After almost nine months in Westerbork, Rebecca de Souza was sent to Theresienstadt on 25 February 1944 with a transport of ±810 deportees, including 308 Portuguese Jews who had been transferred from Amsterdam to Westerbork in February 1943. And after staying in Theresienstadt for more than 7 ½ months, she was sent from there to Auschwitz on 12 October 1944, where Rebecca van Gelder-de Souza after arrival two days later, on 14 October 1944 immediately has been murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, archive cards of Robert Heiman van gelder and Rebecca de Souza; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Robert Heiman van Gelder, Rebecca van Gelder-de Souza, Robinette van Gelder en Berthe Marie van Gelder; the website ITA Arolson, various documents regarding Robert Heiman van Gelder in Buchenwald and Mauthausen and the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl.