Eva de Leeuw, born on 10 August 1913, flower binder and eldest daughter of Hartog and Cato de Leeuw, married on 22 April 1936 in Amsterdam Simon Andries van Gelder, who was born on 21 June 1911 in Eibergen as a son of Abraham van Gelder and Rachel Frank. On 15 April 1937 Eva and Simon Andries had a little daughter, named Rachel.
After the marriage was concluded, the lived at first at Tugelaweg 15 ground floor in Amsterdam-East but per 15 October 1940, they moved into a house at Voltaplein 30 ground floor. Simon Andries was a wholesaler in cardboards and had his office at home. Eva’s unmarried sister Reintje moved in that same day, most likely to help her brother-in-law at the office, but left again for her parental home at Brinkstraat 38 in Betondorp on 19 September 1941. On 14 November 1941, Simon Andries placed an advertisement in the Joodsche Weekblad (Jewish Weekly), for a lad for the office and warehouse.
The Simon Andries van Gelder family was one of the first who were called for the so-called “Arbeitseinsatz”, the provision of additional work in Germany under police surveillance. They arrived in Westerbork on 19 July 1942 and on 24 July they were put on transport to Auschwitz. Upon arrival there, Eva the Leeuw and her daughter Rachel van Gelder, were immediately murdered in the gas chambers there on 26 July 1942. Simon Andries van Gelder however was selected as a forced labourer in Auschwitz where he was put to work and received prison number 52560.
During the month of September, Simon Andries was admitted in Block 20, the prisoners hospital of Auschitz and again in the camp hospital of Block 28. Not known is whether Simon Andries van Gelder has been murdered by a phenol injection or was gassed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. The website Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau mentions “murdered”, meaning that Simon Andries van Gelder did not die of exhaustion or any other disease but on 29 September 1942 deliberately has been murdered.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, archive cards of Eva de Leeuw, Reintje de Leeuw and Simon Andries van Gelder; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Eva van Gelder-de Leeuw, Simon Andries van Gelder and Rachel van Gelder and the website Memorial and Museum Auschwitz Birkenau/Auschwitz Prisoners/Simon van Gelder.