Benjamin van Thijn, usually called Ben, was born in Amsterdam as a son of Levie van Thijn and Elizabeth Mozes van Bergen from Weesp. On 2 December 1914 he married in Hilversum Aaltje Bartels, (also known as Aliza), a daughter of Joseph Bartels and Johanna Bierman. The couple had three children, namely Levi in 1917, Joseph in 1919 and Maurits in 1922. The youngest has survived the Shoah.
After their marriage, Ben and Aliza lived at Lepelkruisstraat 9 3rd floor in Amsterdam. There, their three children were born. On 13 October 1924, they moved to Halvemaansteeg 3 and on 24 February 1925, the family went living at Kerkstraat near nr.2. On 12 May 1930 they moved again to Vrolikstraat 279 and on 5 April the family was registered at the address Afrikanerplein 16 1st floor in Amsterdam.
Ben van Thijn started his career as shop assistant in ready-made-clothing store. Later he became a commercial representative but at the time of the mandatory registration in 1941 of all Jewish Dutch people at the Jewish Council, he was registered again as shop assistant.
Since November 1942 after some short “break” in October, the hunt for Jews was continued with full force. The Jews were picked up after 20.00 hours, had to leave their homes, sometimes by foot, but usually they were brought in militairy trucks to the gathering places. From October 1941 they were brought to the Joodsche Schouwburg (Jewish Theatre) were they had to stay, many of them just some hours, others for days and one for weeks, thereafter to be carried off to Westerbork. On 18 November 1942 and the previous night again 200 people were picked up out of their homes, who were carried off with the other “inhabitants” of the Hollandsche Schouwburg. Among them also Benjamin van Thijn and his wife Aaltje Bartels.
Twelve days later, on 30 November 1942, Benjamin and Aaltje and many others, among them all 367 Jewish employees of Amsterdam garment factory Hollandia Kattenburg, were put on transport to Auschwitz. The transport with in total 826 deportees, stopped at Kozel, about 80 km. west from Auschwitz. There 170 men between 15 and 50 years of age were forced to leave the train in order to be employed as forced labourers in the surrounding satellite camps of Auschwitz. Benjamin belonged not to that group. He and his wife Aaltje and others remained in the train and were transported further to Auschwitz and on arrival there on 3 December 1942, immediately killed.
Sources among others: City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card and archive card of Benjamin van Thijn, archive card of Aaltje Bartels; the book “Ondergang” by Dr. J Presser, volume 1, among others page 285 and 310; the list of Jew-transports from The Netherlands; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Benjamin van Thijn and Aaltje van Thijn-Bartels.