Nathan Van Thijn was born March 5, 1893, the fourth of seven children of Levi Benjamin Van Thyn and Elizabeth Mozes Van Bergen (married in 1887). One child died as an infant; only one, the youngest (a female, Sippora), survived World War II.
The rest, including Nathan, died in the concentration camps.
They grew up in a mostly Jewish neighborhood, educated in the Jewish traditions. Levi Benjamin was strictly Orthodox. The children had only high school-equivalent educations -- if that -- and went to trade school. So it was for Nathan's two oldest sons, Hyman and Levi (nicknamed Louis).
Nathan -- they called him Nico -- was, Louis (who survived after being a prisoner at Auschwitz and neighboring work camps) recalled, "a hard worker. He worked all the time." He was, by trade, a butcher, but he also worked as a gardener and a carpenter.
"He was very handy, liked people and was very outgoing ... He was mild and easygoing," wrote Rose Van Thyn -- Louis' wife after the war.
Then, as Louis noted, "in the depression time (1932-37), nobody was working in Amsterdam. ... He got some odd jobs, so he worked sometimes. ... He was working in wholesale plumbing supplies as a truck driver."
Asked about their relationship in the 1996 interview, Louis replied, "Real good. We were going out all the time, he took me on the bicycle as a young boy (he laughed and said, "cars were not going then") -- and sometimes we went fishing, and we'd go see sports events -- I loved sports, and I still do.
"He was a nice man."