David and Philip Ritmeester were the two youngest children of Jechiël Ritmeester and Elisabeth Brandon. After the death of father Jechiël on 16 March 1933, the Ritmeester family moved from Zandstraat to Lepelstraat 2 II in the old center of Amsterdam, from where David and Philip were placed in the Dutch Israelitic Boys' Orphanage Megadle Jethomiem on Amstel 21 in Amsterdam, a year after their fath…