Salomon Hamburger was the 3rd of the 10 children of Joseph Hamburger and Santje van der Hoeden. Of those children, two were stillborn, two children died in babyhood and one child died in 1931, aged 31 years. From this Hamburger family, Elisabeth, Salomon, Gulia and Samuel were killed in the Shoah. Benedictus died in March 1943 in his hometown Utrecht.
On 21 October 1908, Salomon Hamburger married Jessie Hamburger in Amersfoort. She was born 1 April 1878 in London as a daughter of Samuel Hamburger and Sientje Levie. The couple had two children: on 13 August 1909 Samuel and on 29 April 1916 their son Joseph was born.
In the beginning, after they were married, Salomon and Jessie lived in Rheden (province of Gelderland) but on 9 June 1914 the family was registered in Amersfoort, where they have resided at Stationstraat 3a, Burgemeester Wuijtierslaan 60 and Prinses Marielaan 23. On 22 December 1942 they had to move to Amsterdam where they ended up at Wouwermanstraat 8 groundfloor and per 27 January 1943 they had to go to Linneausstraat 102 1st-floor in Amsterdam.
Salomon Hamburger was exempted from deportation “because of function”. Since 28 September 1942 he was employed by the evacuation committee of the Jewish Council at Nieuwe Keizersgracht 58 in Amsterdam. In former times he owned a wholesale trade of meat and he held the position of chairman of the Jewish Congregation of Amersfoort.
Salomon Hamburger died in Amsterdam on 25 April 1943 but considering the time of death, where the deportations were already in full swing and his wife was killed in Sobibor shortly after his death, it never became clear whether Salomon's death had a natural cause, or whether to think of death in hiding or suicide. (see also the remarks at the website hetstenenarchief.nl/Salomon Hamburger).
Because of the function of her husband, also Jessie was exempted from deportation by the Jewish Council. However, she was carried off 29 June 1943 to Westerbork were she had to stay in barrack 57. Jessie had already made strong attempts for exemption of deportation. On her registration card of the Jewish Council, notes were made who indicated that. Already since 21 June 1943 there was contact with the Swiss embassy through Mr. de Kort – Spui 7-9 in Amsterdam – but she was still waiting for an answer. Jessie had proof of her English nationality and there was also made a note that her husband had died some weeks ago.
An answer from the Swiss embassy was still not received. Therefore on 17 July 1943 Mr. D. Boas from Rubensstraat 25 in Amersfoort was requested to urge Mr. de Kort to press for some reply. At long last an anwer came on 28 July 1943 (it was unknown whether it was a positive or negative answer). On Jessie’s registration card was made an annotation 30 July 1943 that “further steps had no purpose” as Jessie Hamburger was already deported to Sobibor, 10 days earlier, on 20 July 1943, where she was killed immediately on arrival there 23 July 1943.
Both sons of Salomon and Jessie Hamburger have survived the Holocaust by going into hiding. Samuel was married 25 August 1939 to Marianne van Straten (also known as Jenny), a daughter of Louis van Straten and Minna Hes. On 22 January 1942 their son Sjelomo was born. On 8 June 1944, the 2-year-old Shelomo was coincidentally found by a policeman in an attic room in Amersfoort where Sjelomo supposedly was hidden. What happened to him afterwards is unknown. After his “arrest” he might have been carried off at some point to Westerbork, to be deported to Auschwitz with the last transport of 3 September 1944. On arrival there 6 September 1944 Sjelomo Hamburger was immediately killed. His parents survived the Shoah by going into hiding.
Joseph Hamburger has survived the Holocaust too – also by hiding. At the time of the mandatory registration of the Jews in Holland by the Jewish Council in 1941, Joseph was still unmarried. On 2 June 1953 he has married Hermien Rose Marie Gomperts in Amsterdam, a daughter of Cosman Abraham Gomperts and Gisela Perle Polkes. Both passed away in the United States of America.
Sources among others: City Archive of Amsterdam, archive cards of Salomon Hamburger and Jessie Hamburger; website wiewaswie.nl/Joseph Hamburger and Santje van der Hoeden; website hetstenenarchief.nl/grave Salomon Hamburger; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Salomon Hamburger, Jessie Hamburger-Hamburger, Samuel and Joseph Hamburger and Sjelomo Hamburger and the Wikipedia website Jew Transports from the Netherlands.