Herman Israël van Gelder was a butcher in Groningen. He was married to a non-Jewish wife. The couple had two children.
Herman Israël van Gelder helped Jews who had gone into hiding. As someone involved in a mixed marriage, he was called up to work in the Jewish labour camp of Havelte. He escaped from the camp and went into hiding. On 27 December 1944, he was arrested in Groningen and locked up in the Detention centre in Groningen.
After a resistance cell freed an illegal worker in the Dokkum region, at which event two Germans were killed, twenty people in Dokkum were executed by firing squad at the Woudweg in revenge. Herman Israël van Gelder was one of them.
NIOD, Erelijst Verzet en Koopvaardij, database made by J.W. de Leeuw;
B. Braber, Zelfs als wij zullen verliezen. Joden in verzet en illegaliteit in Nederland 1940-1945 (Amsterdam, 1990) 75
This person is commemorated on 2 memorials in Dokkum. More information on these memorials ( memorial 1 , memorial 2 ) can be found (in Dutch) on the website of the Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei.
Biography