Gerrit van Praag, born on 8 June 1910 in Den Helder, was the eldest of the three children of the merchant Hijman van Praag and Elsje Oudkerk, who were married there on 19 April 1910. They then lived at Spoorgracht 46, but soon moved to Keizerstraat 76, where his sister Jogeva was born on 6 September 1913, followed by Emanuel on 19 January 1915.
Gerrit completed a 5-year HHS course in Den Helder (Higher Trade School) and started working as a men's ready-to-wear salesman. In February 1939 Gerrit left for Rotterdam and lived there at Diergaardelaan 44a and in February 1940 at Hoogstraat 379. Mid-January 1941 Gerrit moved to Velsen, where he stayed at various addresses, but from April 1942 Gerrit moved (mandated by the Germans) to Amsterdam.
In Amsterdam he first lived in with Menist, a wallpaper representative at Valkenburgerstraat 81, 1st floor; from August 1942 at Biesboschstraat 38, 1st floor, with his uncle Izaäk Oudkerk and his 2nd wife Margarethe Haas; from 26 March 1943 at Jekerstraat 74 ground flooor with Isaac Nabarro and then briefly on the Merwedeplein 45 2nd floor with Jakob Levy and his wife, where his parents already lived in from 5 February 1942.
Early July 1942, Gerrit obtained a function at the Evacuation Department of the Jewish Council at Nieuwe Keizersgracht 58 in Amsterdam. He was given a “Sperre” and was exempt from deportation until further notice. His Jewish Council exemption number was 81530, which was part of the number series 80000 to 100000, the actual Jewish Council exemption numbers/stamps.
Gerrit van Praag survived the war; He was registered on 7 June 1945 from his previous address Jekerstraat 74 at the address Maasstraat 51, 2nd floor in Amsterdam, and married a non-Jewish woman after the war.
His niece Elsje Sonja van Praag, who was born on 28 November 1942 in Amsterdam as the daughter of Gerrit's sister Jogeva and her husband Gerrit van Praag (1909) (also called Gerard), survived the war too and was reunited at Maasstraat 51, 2nd floor with her uncle Gerrit van Praag on 17 July 1945 at the age of almost 3. She was taken by uncle Gerrit (1910) to their new home at Zeeweg 287 in Velsen on 4 October 1945.
Sources include the Regional Archive of Alkmaar/Population Register of Den Helder with Hijman van Praag and family; the City Archive of Amsterdam, archive card of Gerrit van Praag (1910); Amsterdam residence cards of Valkenburgerstraat 81, Biesboschstraat 38, Jekerstraat 74 and Maasstraat 51 and the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Gerrit van Praag.