Gerrit Kastein

Dr. Gerrit Willem Kastein (25 June 1910 - 21 February 1943) was a Dutch communist, neurologist and resistance fighter and leader during World War II.

Kastein was born in Zutphen, the eldest son of Albertus Gerhardus Kastein and Gerdina Leurink. He studied medicine and became a neurologist. He was married and had two children.

During the 1930s Kastein became an ardent Communist, who often gave lectures. For that reason he was being watched by the Dutch authorities. During the Spanish Civil War he joined the efforts as a general doctor, who along with a Dutch ambulance team provided assistance.

On returning to the Netherlands, he later provided medical assistance to fellow-communist Arie Kloostra during a riot in Den Haag, whom he would later join in the Dutch resistance. Kastein was strongly against racism, and wrote a book on the subject.

Immediately after the Dutch capitulation, Kastein joined the Dutch resistance. On 17 May 1940 he attended the inaugural meeting of The Hague branch of the illegal CPN, at the home of Toon van der Kroft. During the meeting, the Spark Group was founded. Kastein was also one of the initiators of the medical Resistance. Kastein's sympathies and activities came under suspicion, and the first attempt to arrest him was on 2 September 1941. But forewarned, he went into hiding.

Kastein formed the Communist Dutch resistance group CS-6, named after their address Corellistraat 6 in Amsterdam, where the two brothers Boissevain lived. The members were: Jan Verleun; Pam Pooters; Reina Prinsen Geerligs; Leo Frijda; Hans Katan; Sape Kuipers; the brothers Jan Charles Boissevain and Gideon William Boissevain; their cousin Louis Boissevain.

Kastein also chose to work closely with non-communist resistance groups. He gathered extensive pictures of German coastal defences along the Dutch coast, and planned to send them to the Dutch government in exile in London via a neutral Swedish ship via Gothenburg. He was provided with a contact in the form of Anton van der Waals (), who was also a double-agent for the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). This meant that the Germans gained a copy of the film, which was altered before being forwarded via Kees Dutilh.

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