Emmy Sigrid Alida Winther, (Jetje), born 1909 in Rotterdam, was a daughter of Christian Valdemar Winther and Alida Vreeland. Emmy married 23 September 1930 Isaak de Groot in Antwerp, who was born 15 June 1902 in Delft as son of Abraham de Groot and Jetje Alter. Afther the wedding, they live at Van Erstenstraat 15 at Deurne (Antwerp).
The Dossier of Foreigners of the City of Antwerp shows, that at the times of birth of her two daughters, Emmy Winther was officially de-registered from her homeaddress Van Erstenstraat 15 to “Het Moederhuis”(Motherhome) at Vinkenstraat 50 in Antwerp, a maternity clinic built in 1905, and that she, after depart from there again was registered at her homeaddress. The mentions by the Commission of Public Relief Antwerp has as subject: “Message of depart of a foreigner”. In “Het Moederhuis” both her daughters were born: Henriette 15 December 1932 and Alida 21 February 1934.
Emmy de Groot-Winther and her daughters Henriette and Alida were deported from Mechelen to Auschwitz with Convoy 11, which departed 26 September and arrived in Auschwitz 28 September 1942. This convoy included 1742 persons, of whom were 523 children. Upon arrival 1398 deportees were immediately killed. However, the date of death for Emmy Sigrid Alida de Groot-Winther has been established as 30 September 1942 and it is not unlikely that Henriette and her sister Alida were killed 30 September too.
The Memorial of the Deportation of the Belgian Jews writes about this among others: The registrations started 16 September and ended 25 September, the eve before the depart. So it took 10 days to gather the number of persons to be deported. They must have been brought in by force, the Jews went already into hiding. Between 23 and 25 September more than 100 persons fall into the trap at the rations offices at the Meir, where they came to pick up their rations stamps. With this trap, set up by SS-agents and their Flemish collegue’s, all persons were arrested of whom their ID card was stamped with “Jood-Juif” (Jew) and with the small star, who they had to collect in June at the city hall. For the 11th convoy 162 persons were registered the first day in Mechelen which should leave 25 September and arrived in Auschwitz 28 September 1942. Nearly 80% of the deportees (1398 persons) were killed immediately. 344 persons were still registered in the concentration camp of whom only 34 would survive the liberation of the nazicamps .
Sources: Cith archive of Rotterdam, family registration card of Christian Valdemar Winther; the dossier of Foreigners of the City of Antwerp, nr. 189717, image 716-729; Het Moederhuis Antwerpen, website https://inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be/erfgoedobjecten/7727 and the Memorial of de Deportation of the Belgian Jews, among others page 26 and an addition of a visitor of the website.