Gerrit van der Bijl 1920 - 1941 Edit

Gerrit van der Bijl, oldest son of Simon van der Bijl (Amsterdam 21 August 1897 – Sobibor 16 April 1943) and Jetje Winnik (Amsterdam 27 July 1895 – Sobibor 16 April 1943). He had a younger brother Isaak (Amsterdam 6 January 1923 – Auschwitz 30 September 1942). His father was a streetvendor. The family was living at Waterlooplein 48 III (3rd floor). Gerrit was, at the time of his arrest, a mechanic. On 7 February 1939 he had his medical test for his conscription into the Dutch army. He passed this medical test and was drafted into the army, into the infantry, on 23 October 1939. On 28 August 1939 the general mobilization of the Dutch Army began because of the threat of war. He officially was discharged from the army on 7 June 1940. With his medical test he showed his drivers’ license, which in those days was very exceptional. Gerrit was one of the more than 400 young Jewish men arrested by German police (Grüne Polizei) on 2 and 3 February 1941. They were all loaded on trucks and driven to a nearby prison-camp at Schoorl, a village north of Alkmaar. After a few weeks the whole group of men were deported to Buchenwald where they arrived on 28 February 1941. The whole group, except the ones that were killed at Buchenwald, was sent to Mauthausen on 22 May 1941. Gerrit was officially registered, in the Netherlands, as being killed at KL Mauthausen on 1 September 1941.

Ed van Rijswijk, researcher/genealogist