Biography

About Louis Smeer and his wife Leentje Visser.

Louis Smeer, a tailor by trade, was the youngest son of Azor Smeer and Sara Cohen. 15 October 1941 he married Leentje Visser in Amsterdam, a daughter of  Bernard Visser and Jet Offenbach. She worked as a servant maid and lived at home with her parents at Muiderstraat 25 II in Amsterdam, where they resided since 22 January 1940.

After the passing of his father Azor Smeer 1 Februrary 1938, Louis and his mother Sara Cohen stayed a short time with his sister Leentje Neeter-Smeer at Antheunisstraat 16 in Den Haag. 7 December 1938 he left Den Haag for Zutphensestraat 78 in Apeldoorn but returned 15 May 1939 to Amsterdam, living with his mother again at Leeuwenhoekstraat 2. With her, he moved 13 November to Nieuwe Achtergracht 57 I but 15 October 1941 at the time of his marriage to Leentje Visser, he moved in with her and her parents at Muiderstraat 25 II. Louis and Leentje have lived some five months together at Nieuwe Herengracht 65, but returned in May 1942 to their respective parental home addresses.

So Louis Smeer has been fetched and arrested and deported from his home address Nieuwe Achtergracht 57 III to Camp Westerbork 4 October 1942 and put on transport 9 October 1942 to Auschwitz. Most likely he was selected for hard labor in one of the satellite camps; otherwise he would have been killed immediately upon arrival of the transport in Auschwitz. Eventually, Louis Smeer lost his life in Auschwitz 31 January 1943.

His wife Leentje Visser arrived in Westerbork 9 Januari 1943, stayed there for about ten days in barack 85 and toghether with her mother Jet Offenbach, put on transport to Auschwitz 18 January and upon arrival there both were killed immediately 21 January 1943. Leentje's father Bernard Visser passed away alreay 30 March 1942 in Amsterdam.

City archive of Amsterdam, archive cards of Louis Smeer and Leentje Visser and the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Louis Smeer en Leentje Smeer-Visser.

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