Gerrit Kleerekoper was a Jewish - Dutch gymnastics coach.
Career
Kleerekoper"s team scored 316.75 points, defeating Italy and the United Kingdom. Many years later Alida van den Bos, one of the gold-winning gymnasts, told in an interview how important Kleerekoper"s contribution was:
Their twenty-one-year-old son Leendert died of exhaustion in Auschwitz in July 1944.
Membership
The members of his Olympic gold-winning team were: Alida van den Bos, Estella Agsteribbe, Jacomina van den Berg, Petronella Burgerhof, Elka de Levie, Helena Nordheim, Ans Polak, Petronella van Randwijk, Hendrika van Rumt, Jud Simons, Jacoba Stelma and Anna van der Vegt. Five members of the gold-winning team were Jewish and in 1943 were murdered at Sobibor and Auschwitz by the Nazis during Operation Reinhard.