Adrianus van Gils

Geslacht:	Man
Vader:	Mattheus van Gils
Moeder:	Jacoba Elsgeest
Geboren:	8 Juni 1910	Aarlanderveen
Aantekeningen:	Last Name: Gils van First Name: Adrianus Alias: ADRIAAN Date of Birth: 08/06/1910 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Gender: Male Place during the war: Alphen aan den Rijn, Zuidholland, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Alphen aan den Rijn, Zuidholland, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding Arranging shelter File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/1186) Before the war, Bertha (Bep) van Gils worked for a Jewish family. In 1942, when the deportation of Jews commenced, Bep decided to help her former employers. Consequently, Bep and her husband, Adrianus (Adriaan), offered their home in Alphen-aan-de-Rijn, South Holland, as a hideout. Adrianus and Bep lived in a small three-bedroom row house with their three small children. Nevertheless, before long they were sheltering seven Jews there, including the Braasem family (the father, Asher, the daughters, Rebecca, Rachel, and Greta, and Greta's husband, Abraham Lopez-Cardozo), Hans Bloemendal, and Ferdinand Bayer. The house was located near a station of the German Field Gendarmerie. Only very few people knew that the van Gilses were sheltering people. Even the van Gilses' three-year-old daughter was trained not to mention the "lodgers" to anyone. The fugitives spent most of their time in the back room, and during local razzias hid under the floor. During their time there, those hiding were only requested to pay a tiny amount to their hosts, despite the fact that the van Gilses were a poor family. As the war progressed, food became scarce. The van Gilses did not have enough ration cards to feed all the people in their home. Adrianus illegally procured extra food cards in order to ensure that everyone could be fed. Whatever food they managed to come by, everyone shared equally. During the course of the war, Adrianus and Bep also referred a number of Jews to other safe addresses. They encouraged other residents of Alphen-aan-de-Rijn to open their homes to Jewish fugitives. Adrianus and Bep also offered temporary shelter to people like Siegfried Pekel and Susanna Pekel-de Leeuw who had been forced to leave their hideouts. All those who were afforded a permanent shelter with Adrianus and Bep survived the war. On September 2, 1977, Yad Vashem recognized Adrianus van Gils and his wife, Bertha Gerarda van Gils-van Hemert, as Righteous Among the Nations

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner:	Barbara Gerarda van Hemert	geb. 8 MRT 1908
Huwelijk:	1939	Alphen aan den Rijn