Gudema Family

The following is an email discussion of the what happened to Markus Gudema & Louise Mooi during the Second World War from a series of emails in 2007-2008 with Peter Krans.  Turns out Markus Gudema survived the war in Indonesia.

This small list of Gudemas and Gudema-Mooi lists them as being in Singapore during the second world war.  The discussion about them is below:

Dear Dan,

On the website of Jeff Nyveen I saw your message regarding the Gudema family tree. A few months ago I contacted Jonathan Gudema, who prepared a family tree about the Gudema.

I am looking for relatives of Judith Heymans-Gudema, who currently lives in Israel. Her uncle Markus Gudema is supposed to survive the war by moving to Dutch East Indies as a soldier and after the war he emigrated to USA.

Perhaps you can help me further with this, since Judith does not have any pictures of her family, since her parents and brother (also grandparents etc) perished in World War II. The data I currently have is:

5 Benjamin Gudema 1879 – 1943
….+Jetta Wallage 1883 – 1924
……….6 Jantje Gudema 1906 – 1906
……….6 Lea Gudema 1907 -
…………………7 Sophia Gudema 1926 -
…………..+Salomon Meyer Cohen 1904 -
…………………7 Frouwtje Cohen 1929 – 1930
…………………7 Stillborn Child Cohen 1930 – 1930
…………………7 Benjamin Cohen 1931 -
…………………7 Jetta Reinette Cohen 1933 -
…………………7 Stillborn Child Cohen 1936 – 1936
…………………7 Marcus Cohen 1936 -
……….6 Jantje Gudema 1909 -
……….6 *Markus Gudema 1911 -*
……….6 [2] Berta-Bertha Gudema 1915 – 1942
…………..+[1] Lazarus Schrijver 1913 – 1943
…………………7 [3] Michiel Benjamin Schrijver 1940 – 1942
……….*6 Jacob Gudema 1915 – 1943
…………..+Rebekka Van Amerongen 1912 – 1943
…………………7 Benjamin Louis Gudema 1940 – 1943
…………………7 Judith Heymans-Gudema*
……….6 Saartje Gudema 1921 -
*2nd Wife of Benjamin Gudema:
….+Reinette de Jong 1882 – 1943

Thank you in advance.

Peter Krans

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Daniel Gudema to Peter

Peter,

Yes, Jonathan is my brother. He and I have heard this story several
times, specifically from Judith Heymans, who wrote us many years ago.
There are 3 existing Gudema families currently with the last name in
the US. There is our family, which mostly live and lived in the
NY/Philadelphia area. There is a second Gudema family mostly based
today in Boston and I believe the midwest. And there is a woman who
is a distant Gudema who lives today in Texas. I am sure that all
three are not related to Markus Gudema, nor are we close relations.
And, you can check the social security website for Gudemas that are
deceased. Markus Gudema is not there as well. This still does not
mean he did not make it to the US, since the social security numbers
may not apply.

There are several people you can try and contact to see if they know
any additional information. One is Jetty Gudema. She was still alive
last year and is a holocaust survivor and probably the oldest Gudema
still around. She knew my grandfather, his brothers and was
knowledgable of the families in the Groningen/Stadkanal areas like 70
years ago. There is a slight chance she may know something. Her
relatives are the ones in Boston. If she is not available, then her
niece, Johanna Frohm, may be able to help you as well. Her email
address is jdfrohm@yahoo.com.

Jetty Gudema
5100 NE 2nd Ave., Apt 604
Miami FL 33137
Phone: (305) 754-2074

We have heard Judith’s story in the past, and if we come in contact
with other Gudemas we will ask them about this person. The other
place to go is back to the town he was originally from, where they
keep extremely good records. For instance, in the town of Stadskanal
where my grandfather is from they still keep his pictures, school
records, etc. There could be something there. Good luck.

Dan Gudema

Peter Krans to me

show details 8/21/07

Hi Daniel,

Thank you for your extensive reply. I called Jetty Gudema and she is indeed family of Judith (she is a cousin of Judith’s father). She still speaks Dutch very well without an accent, which was very special for me to hear. She is from the area of Stadskanaal and seems to know all the Gudema’s who were there before the war. I also am researching another man named Arnold Gudema (Aron) which was from Musselkanaal. This man was hidden by my grandfather, but was betrayed and died in Sobibor. My grandfather was also deported to Camp Vught, but he was released after a half year. She also knew this man and I promised to mail her my story and Judith’s story by normal mail, since she said she was old-fashioned….

So many thanks you for your reply, this was really helpful, and if you would like to know more I can always inform you.

Kind regards,

Peter Krans

Daniel Gudema

Peter,

That is great that you called Jetty. She is a very far relationship
of mine, like 6th cousin, so we are not closely related. My father,
who is still around and I are probably going to see her sometime later
this year, since she knew my grandfather and his brothers. There were
other contacts in northern holland such as Nico Gudema, his brother
and son who live in the Groningen area. And another part of this
family, I believe an Aronneta Gudema who lives in that area as well.
We contacted these groups in 1991 during our trip there. So let me
know if you need some additional contacts. Most of these people
pretty much know what we do.

Dan

Peter Krans to me

Hello Daniel,

Last year we contacted because of my research for the family of Judith Gudema from Israel. In the past year we found out that Markus Gudema died in 1948 and survived the war in the Netherlands-Indies. He suffered terribly, since he was forced to work on the Birma Road. He was married to a Dutch woman Louise Mooi there and they got two children.

I am trying to find out if these children are still alive. On a list (attachment) I found their names.

List 8F Red Cross The Hague (1946)

living in “SOLO”

L.C.J. Gudema-Mooi 27 years female

T. Gudema 5 years man

J. Gudema 4 years female

These T. Gudema and J. Gudema shud then now be about 65-68 years old. My question to you is, did you came across these names in your research.

Thanks,

Peter

Daniel Gudema schreef:
- Show quoted text -
–

Peter Krans | ImpressiveXS
T +31 (0) 599 234188 | F +31 (0) 599 235407
Dr. A.F. Philipsweg 53 9403 AD Assen
The Netherlands
www.impressivexs.nl

Gudema_Solo.jpg Gudema_Solo.jpg

Peter,

I don’t recall the children’s names that are listed. We are in good
contact with a variety of Gudema family members in both northern
Holland and here in the US, and we will ask them if they have come
across these family members. I have notes from my 1991 trip to holland
a whole bunch of additional Gudema members, but I don’t think they
will know much about this.

I am assuming you are still talking about the Dutch West Indies, or
Indonesia. It is most likely they left Indonesia if they were Dutch
during the regimes that followed, and went somewhere else. I would
assume most europeans moved to either Hong Kong, Australia from
Indonesia, possibly Canada, but they may be there still. I would look
carefully in Australia.

On an unrelated note, a Gudema descendant showed up as a member of the
Ukranian Parliment, Alexandr Gudema. He is mentioned here:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://photobucket.com/albums/g136/russiancorporatism/NewTitle.gif&imgrefurl=http://rusecon.blogspot.com/2006/04/rusukrenergo-beneficiaries-are.html&h=60&w=965&sz=4&hl=en&start=2&sig2=grAw2GOYQlceO_GiXoaF-A&um=1&usg=__A9WeTt_tIArmzQYS7scBdylMcdo=&tbnid=IYDVEQoSIPrfeM:&tbnh=9&tbnw=148&ei=dO7DSOH7BJuI8gTy3O3oBw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgudema%2Bmoscow%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den.

We got a photo of this person in the past and he resembles both my
father and their family. He does not appear to be one of these names
on this list, but he could be… I think that he is a survivor of
Sobibor that ended up in the soviet union, which means he could be a
very close relative of mine.

My brother, and possibly my father, will send you their comments. If
my father had known they were in Indonesia, he could have looked for
them. He has been to the Indies several times. Good luck.

Dan

Peter Krans to me

Hi Daniel,
Thank you for your reply. For me it is also unknown. Through the Red Cross we now found out that Markus Gudema died, but they divorced and it is unknown where his wife went with the children. However if they had ended up in The Netherlands, then we could have found them through the phonebook. And the Dutch Gudema’s I know don’t know them.

Perhaps Australia is an option. Since many Dutch moved. Solo is the name for Surakarta, which is in Indonesia.

If I come accross something I’ll let you know and I am very grateful that you ask within your family. But did your father find any Gudema during his trips?

The Ukranian Gudema is also very interesting to us, since Judith’s parents and brother also died in Sobibor. Is it it possible to send his picture? I would also like to find out more and can try to contact Ukraine from here.