Emanuel Park, born on 16 July 1892 as son of Meijer Hartog park and Sara de Leon, married on 8 October 1925 the 19-year-old Hendrina Schaap, a daughter of Wolf Schaap and Rebecca Sealtiel. Hendrina was previously married at the age of 18; on 16 April 1924 she was married to the postman Aaron Swaab, a son of Joseph Swaab and Jetje Berkhof, but that marriage ended on 2 December 1924 in a divorce. Hendrina lived already in an adulterous relationship with Emanuel Park. in Borgerhout in Belgium, Tuinbouwstraat 22.
A few months later, after the official divorce, Hendrina’s illegitimate son Meijer was born on 10 March 1925, who was registered in the birth register of Amsterdam as Meijer Schaap. Emanuel Park and Hendrina Schaap had another daughter together, namely Rebecca Park, who was born 23 July 1926 in Amsterdam.
Emanuel Park and his parents lived already in Borgerhout since 1904. His father, Meijer Hartog Park was a diamond worker, who lived with his wife Sara de Leon in Borgerhout until 1920 and from 1920 till the beginning of January 1921 in Antwerp. Then all returned to Amsterdam, where Emanuel came living in Utrechtsestraat 81 and in July 1921 in Lepelstraat 26. In addition to Emanuel Park being a diamond cutter, he also traded in oddments. But from June 1924 he was for a short time active as a street market vendor at Dappermarkt in Amsterdam-East, where he sold stockings and socks on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
About 2 1/2 years after his marriage in 1925, Emanuel Park left for Antwerp on 22 March 1928 with his wife Henrdrina, her son Meijer Schaap and their daughter Rebecca Park. As a diamond cutter, Emanuel was employed at Messrs. Kleinman in Borgerhout, where he earned an average of Bfrs. 350 per week to support his family.
Meijer Schaap however, returned already in May 1928 to the Netherlands with his mother, where he was accommodated with his grandparents Wolf Schaap and Rebecca Sealtiel, who lived in Weesperstraat 51. Hendrina returned to Antwerp, where in the meantime her husband lived at Nottebohmstraat 22 and provided for their maintenance still as diamond cutter. Their daughter Rebecca however was brought back on 8 January 1929 to Amsterdam by her mother too where Rebecca also was accommodated with her grandparents Schaap, who still lived in Weesperstraat 51.
On 19 January 1929, Hendrina returned from Antwerp to Amsterdam. When she in February 1931 lived at Van Immerzeelstraat 22 , Emanuel presumably has left for Paris without notifying authorities. Hendrina also left for Paris in June 1931 to meet her husband, however without stating the date of her return.
Hendrina pretended to be an artist. She worked in bars in Antwerp as a dancer, which made her the object of several inquiries from the Antwerp Police. In 1931, she would therefore have violated Art. 1 of the Codex of the Municipal Police Regulations.
The marriage of Emanuel and Hendrina did not last and ended in a divorce. Emanuel Park returned from Paris to Amserdam on 29 February 1932, where on 6 June, in the absence of Emanuel Park and by verdict of the District Court of Amsterdam, the marriage had been dissolved and recorded in the Civil Registry on 29 July 1932.
After the divorce, Hendrina Schaap lived with her parents in Nieuwe Kerkstraat 101, moved with them to Waterlooplein 80 1st floor on 3 August 1937, but on 30 March 1942 she moved again, now to Jodenbreestraat 81 2nd floor. Her son Meijer Schaap joined his mother to Jodenbreestraat but her daughter Rebecca continued living with her grandparents Wolf Schaap and Rebecca Sealtiel on Waterlooplein.
Emanuel Park however married again on 31 August 1932, this time to Anna Mathilda Maria Ruysscher, born in Wilrijk (Belgium) in 1912, who had a daughter born on 1 June 1932, named Maria Ruysscher. They lived in Zandvoort, returned to Amsterdam in 1936, where they lived at various addresses. This marriage of Emanuel and Anna Mathilda Maria did not last too and ended 25 September 1937 in a divorce.
Presumably after his divorce in 1937 from Anna Mathilda Maria Ruysscher, Emanuel Park left Amsterdam again for Antwerp, but it is not known where he lived at that time. Known is however, that he was finally arrested in 1944 and taken to Caserne Dossin in Mechelen. From there, he was deported on 4 April 1944 to Auschwitz with convoy XXIV (24th), however, not killed there on arrival. Due to the approach of Russian troops, it is very likely that Emauel Park has been deported again in January 1945 from Auschwitz to a subcamp of Mauthausen in Austria, the Extern Command Melk. There eventually he lost his life on 16 February 1945.
Sources among others: City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Emanuel Park and Wolf Schaap, archive cards of Aaron Swaab, Hendrina Schaap, Meijer Schaap and Rebecca Park; the Dossier of Foreigners of the City of Antwerp, nr.155311, images 458/-488; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council and the Memorial of the deportation of the Belgian Jews, pages among others 34 and 35.