Barend Scheffer was born at 8 Nieuwe Grachtje in Amsterdam as the sixth child of Salomon Scheffer and Rosetta Victoria Levitus. After his father died in 1930, he was sent to the Jewish boys' orphanage at 21 Amstel in Amsterdam. At age 16 he became a warehouse clerk and moved back in with his mother at 37 Hofmeyrstraat, fourth floor, in Amsterdam.
Barend Scheffer married Esther Appel, daughter of …