Clara Leon was a daughter of Jacob Leon and Matje Schuit. She married 28 November 1923 in Amsterdam with the in Lask born (near Lodz in Poland) tailor Icek Widawski, a son of Derek Widawski and Mindel Podembska. Clara and Icek had four children: Lilian, Beatrice, Bernard and Mia.
Icek Widawski had a sister, Chaja Sura Widawska, who was previously married and divorced from Herszel Arbajtma and in a second wedlock married on 30 September 1936 in Amsterdam to Isaac Scheffer, a son of Salli Scheffer and Beletje Krant. Since 1932, Chaja lived at a number of addresses in Amsterdam and Isaac Scheffer arrived in 1925 from Merxem (Antwerp) in Amsterdam. After their marriage, they lived in the Leeuwenhoekstraat 1b 1st floor in Amsterdam-East.
Icek Widawski, tailor by profession, lived in 1923 in Eerste Oosterparkstraat 139 in Amsterdam, moved 7 June 1923 to Govert Flinckstraat 307, where after their marriage, Clara Leon joined him. After several more removals, the family arrived 30 December 1936 in the Korte Meerhuizenstraat 16 2nd floor. Icek Widawski however passed away in Amsterdam on 22 January 1940 and was interred the next day in the Jewish Cemetery in Diemen.
Clara Leon was “exempted from deportation until further notice”. Since 21 July 1942 she was employed with the Jewish Council as a short-hand typist at the General Service of the Jewish Council and she was also working at the Sewing Room at Oosteinde 24 in Amsterdam. Clara’s former job was office clerk.
Clara’s eldest daughter Lilian was accommodated on 11 May 1939 in the S.A. Rudelsheim foundation in Hilversum, an institution for Jewish disabled and mentally handicapped children. From the location at Heideparkweg 51 in Hilversum, Lilian and all other residents were arrested 7 April 1943 and carried off to Westerbork. According to her registration card of the Jewish Council, Lilian arrived 4 June 1943 in barrack 63 and from there deported to Sobibor on 8 June 1943. On arrival there on 11 June 1943, she has been immediately killed.
In August 1941, the widow Clara Widawski-Leon and her children Beatrice, Bernard and Mia had to move to the Louis Bothastraat 27 3rd floor in the Transvaal district in Amsterdam-East. The children had a “sperre bis auf weiteres” because of the exemption of their mother and Beatrice was also employed in the Sewing Room of the Jewish Council at Oosteinde 24 in Amsterdam.
The 15-year old son Bernard Widawski had been brought to Westerbork already on 27 May 1943, where he had to stay in barrack 35. In Westerbork that barrack was called “the orphanage”. He too was exempted from deportation. On his registration card of the Jewish Council, various notes were made which have led to the decision on 6 June that for the time being he was allowed to remain longer in the camp. But on 29 June he was deported to Sobibor, together with his mother and sisters and on arrival there on 2 July 1943, immediately killed.
On 29 June 1943, during the secret prepared big raid in Amsterdam South and East, where 5500 Jews were arrested and carried off to Westerbork, also Clara Leon and her daughters Beatrice and Mia were included. For unknown reasons, they ended up in the penal barrack 67. On 29 June, Clara and her children Beatrice, Bernard and Mia Widawski were put on transport to Sobibor and on arrival there on 2 July 1943 immediately killed.
Sources among others: City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card of Icek Widawski, archive cards of Icek Widawski, Clara Leon, Isaac Scheffer and Chaja Sura Widawski; Amsterdam Dossier of Foreigners/Widawski, the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Clara Widawski-Leon and he children Lilian, Beatrice, Bernard and Mia Widawski; website akevoth.org/Mokum/burial permits/Icek Widawski.