Berthold Joël van Geldere was a son from the first wedlock of Hartog van Geldere and Jettchen Goldberg. Berthold was born on 9 June 1898 in Den Haag. He married on 9 January 1929 in Rotterdam Sientje Elizabeth Bosman, who was born there on 6 July 1897 as a daughter of Isaac Bosman and Engeltje Polak. The couple had four children, of whom the first born was a stillborn son. Their 2nd child was Engeltje Henriette, who died on 27 April 1933 in Rotterdam, only 5 days old. Thereafter came Hartog on 4 December 1935 and Henriette on 1 June 1937.
When Berthold Joël van Geldere was 2 years old, his mother Jettchen Goldberg passed away on 30 January 1901 in Den Haag, after which his father Hartog got remarried on 15 July 1902 in Hannover to Josephine Mendel and returned with her to Den Haag on 9 May 1903. There were born three more children then: Salomon in July 1903, Sophia Sabine in April 1905 and Sibilla in October 1906.
In 1913 Berthold lived with his parents in the Raamstraat in Den Haag, till he came living in on 3 July 1919 with Louis Dribbel and his wife Aaltje Blitz at the Houtmarkt 19A. He was 21 years old at the time and a telegraph operator 2nd class. (militia?)
On 24 September 1920 he shortly returned to his parents, to leave then on 5 October 1920 for Nieuwstraat D210a in Goes (province of Zeeland) where he has been working as a kitchen servant. But already on 23 October 1920 he left for Café Restaurant Den Ouden Deijl in Wassenaar, where he had a similar position.
On 22 December 1920, Berthold Joël van Geldere was registered again in Rotterdam at the address Stroveer 16, where he came to live in with the family of his cousin and cook Salomon Albert van Geldere, who was married to Sara van Dam. Berthold remained living there till 13 January 1927 and worked those years as an office clerk. His father, Hartog van Geldere had passed away already on 2 June 1923 in Den Haag, aged 64 years and was interred in the Jewish Cemetery in Wassenaar.
On 13 January 1927, Berthold Joël moved to Oost Zeedijk 350b in Rotterdam and on 9 January 1929 he married the chocolate shopkeeper Sientje Elizabeth Bosman. Berthold Joël van Geldere now became chocolate shopkeeper too, but continued to work also as an office clerk.
Afterwards, Berthold and Sientje have lived at a number of other addresses in Rotterdam, such as in the Vredenoorlaan 37b, at Spoorsingel 34b, in the Nolensstraat 4b and in the Rauwenhouffstraat 29a. Their last relocation was on 12 August 1938 to the Russischestraat 94b, located in the Oud Mathenesse district of Rotterdam.
After being arrested, the entire Van Geldere family was carried off to concentration camp Vught in the night of 21 to 22 April 1943. There they remained until early June 1942. On 7 June 1943, Berthold Joël van Geldere, his wife Sientje Elizabeth van Geldere-Bosman and their children Hartog and Henriette were transported from Vught to Westerbork with the so-called children’s transport, where they had to stay overnight in barrack 62. The next day, 8 June the children’s transport went on to Sobibor, with in total 3017 deportees. Upon arrival there on 11 June 1943, all the children, their parents and guardians, including the entire Van Geldere family were immediately murdered in the gas chambers. There were no survivors.
Sources include the City Archive of Rotterdam, family registration cards of Hartog van Geldere, Berthold Joël van Geldere and Salomon Albert van Geldere; the Municipal Archive of Den Haag, family registration cards of Hartog van Geldere, Berthold Joël van Geldere and the widowed Josephine van Geldere-Mendel; website openarchieven.nl/wedding Van Geldere-Bosman; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Berthold Joël van Geldere, Sientje Elizabeth van Geldere-Bosman, Hartog van Geldere en Henriette van Geldere; website ITS Arolson, camp cards Vught of Berthold Joël van Geldere and Sientje Elizabeth van Geldere- Bosman and the website hetstenenarchief.nl/Grave Hartog van Geldere (1858).