Simon de Vries was a son of Manus de Vries and Clara Bilderbeek. He married 6 May 1920 in Amsterdam Maria d’Oliveira, a daughter of Isaac d’Oliveira and Henriëtte van Gelderen. The couple had two children, namely Clara in 1922 and Isaac in 1924. Both the children have survived the Holocaust.
Simon de Vries was a vendor of haberdasheries. Between 1923 and 1936 he had a stand at the streetmarket at Nieuwmarkt in Amsterdam where he sold his merchandise. With his family he lived at Van Breestraat, Korte Houtstraat, Stoofsteeg and St. Antoniebreestraat 25 in Amsterdam, where they lived till 1943. On 6 August 1943 they had to move to the Transvaal district in Eastern Amsterdam to Vaalrivierstraat 8 groundfloor.
Their daughter Clara de Vries married 31 March 1942 in Amsterdam with the sports teacher Max Werkendam, a son of Zadok Werkendam and Esther Buijs. Max lived till July 1931 in Antwerp and afterwards on several addresses in Amsterdam. His last address was Eendrachtstraat 19 2nd floor in Amsterdam, where he lived in with his wife Clara at Van Riene but per 3 August 1943 they too had to move to Vaalrivierstraat 8 groundfloor in the Amsterdam Transvaal district.
Max Werkendam was a teacher of sports and since 12 June 1942 employed at Plantage 9 in Amsterdam and he and his wife Clara were exempted from deportation until further notice (“gesperrt bis auf weiteres”) by the Jewish Council. On 29 September 1943 they were carried off to Westerbork where they had to stay in barrack 75 till they were put on transport on 1 February1944 to Bergen Belsen. There Max Werkendam eventually lost his life on 31 May 1954. His wife Clara de Vries survived the Shoah. She was deported onwards from Bergen Belsen to Beendorf and eventally managed to arrive in Holland again via Sweden. There she stayed at Van Walbeekstraat 98 in Amsterdam but in 1948 Clara Werkendam-de Vries left Amsterdam for Antwerp.
Theis son Isaac de Vries was unmarried and was employed as warehouse clerk. He survived the Holocaust. According notes on his registration card from the Jewish Council Isaac would have been carried off, together with his parents to concentration camp Vught. However, he himself stated that he had never been to Vught. Other details from his registration card show that he had to move on 31 July 1943 from St. Antoniebreestraatr 25 to Vaalrivierstraat 8 ground floor. After the war, he lived at Beethovenstraat 18 in Amsterdam.
The Vaalrivierstraat 8 ground floor was also the last known address of Simon de Vries and his wife Maria d’Oliveira. From there, Simon and Maria were carried off to concentration camp Vught in the night of 11 to 12 March 1943 and from there they arrived in Westerbork on 14 August 1943. On 24 August they were put on transport to Auschwitz and on arrival there on 27 August 1943 immediately killed.
Sources among others: City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card and archive card of Simon de Vries and Maria d'Oliveira and the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Simon de Vries, Maria de Vries-d'Oliveira, Clara Werkendam-de Vries, Max Werkendam and Isaac de Vries.