Jeannette van Embden was the second child of Andries van Emden and Sara Mok. She married 18 January 1933 the bread baker Gerrit Lakmaker, a son of David Lakmaker and Cato Swaab. The couple had two children: David and Sara. All were killed in the Shoah.
After their wedding, Gerrit and Jeannette lived in Von Zesenstraat 36 in Amsterdam-East and moved 23 April 1935 to Gorontalostraat 3 2nd floor in the Indian District in Amsterdam-East.
During the big raids in Amsterdam of early October 1942, the family was arrested and carried off to Westerbork, where they arrived between 3 and 5 October. On 9 October, they were all put on transport to Auschwitz, where on arriaval on 12 October 1942, Jeannette Lakmaker-van Embden and both her children David and Sara were immediately killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Gerrit Lakmaker however, was selected as a “laborer”, to work in or outside the camp. It is not known where Gerrit had to perform his hard labor and when exactly he lost his life. Despite the note, made on his registration card from the Jewish Council of “30 Jan 1944 Birkenau”, the Ministry of Justice ordered the municipality of Amsterdam to made out a certificate of death for Gerrit Lakmaker, in which the date and place of death has been established as on 31 March 1944 in Mid-Europe.
Sources: City Archive of Amsterdam, archive card of Andries van Embden and archive cards of Gerrit Lakmaker and Sara Mok, family registration card of Gerrit Lakmaker; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Gerrit Lakemaker and his certificate of death Reg.A117-Fol.14-nr. 79, made out in Amsterdam on 29 September 1961.