Stumbling Stones Mgr. van den Boerpark 6

Stolpersteine / Stumbling Stones / Struikelstenen
for
* Abraham van Gelder, born 1901, deported 3 June 1944 from Westerbork, murdered 14 April 1945, Wüstegiersdorf.
* Florence Berthe van Gelder, born 1938, deported 13 July 1943 from Westerbork, murdered 16 July 1943 Sobibor.
* Suzanna van Gelder-van Gelder, born 1898, deported 13 July 1943 from Westerbork, murdered 16 July 1943 Sobibor.

Abraham van Gelder studied at the University of Amsterdam and earned his doctorate in 1933. He was employed by Zwanenberg but was temporarily employed by Organon as a chemist. In 1935, he married his cousin, Suzanna van Gelder. Their daughter, Florence Berthe, was born 3 years later.

In 1942, Dr. van Gelder and other Jewish employees were fired from Zwanenberg/Organon without warning. He was able to find work as a teacher in Den Bosch; this position protected him and his family for a while.

But in April 1942, the family is taken to Vught camp. In June, 5-year-old Florence is to go on a so-called kindertransport, accompanied by one adult, her mother. They are taken to first to Westerbork, then deported to Sobibor, where they are gassed on arrival. Abraham van Gelder ended up in Poland where he worked in forced labor. He died on 14 April 1945, three weeks before the end of the war.

"Stolpersteine" is an art project for Europe by Gunter Demnig to commemorate victims of National Socialism (Nazism). Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) are small, 10x10cm brass plaques placed in the pavement in front of the last voluntary residence of (mostly Jewish) victims who were murdered by the Nazis. Each plaque is engraved with the victim’s name, date of birth, and place (mostly a concentration camp) and date of death. By doing this, Gunter Demnig gives an individual memorial to each victim. One stone, one name, one person. He cites the Talmud: "A human being is forgotten only when his or her name is forgotten."

Borne was the first town in the Netherlands in which Stolpersteine were placed -- on 29 November 2007.

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Source

• Text: Anne Palmer
• Photos: Peter Mulder
• Stolpersteine Zutphen
• Stolpersteine.eu