David van Stratum, born 8 September 1918, was a son of Mozes van Stratum and Engeltje Simmeren. He was unmarried and worked as presser in the clothing industry in Groningen. With his parents and elder sister he lived at Winschoterdiep 25 in Groningen City.
Early October 1942, the Germans held large-scaled round-ups on Jews, also in Groningen, whereby David van Stratum, his parents Mozes van Stratum and Engeltje Simmeren and his sister Martha were arrested and carried off to Westerbork. There they arrived between 3 and 5 October and put on transport to Auschwitz on 16 October 1942.
The transport made a stop at Kozel, a place located ± 80 km west from Auschwitz. From this transport of in total 1710 deportees, 570 men between 15 and 50 years of age were forced to leave the train, to be deployed as forced labourers in the surrounding labor camps of Auschwitz. Also David van Stratum, aged 24, belonged to that group.
His parents and sister were transported onwards to Auschwitz, where they have been killed immediately on arrival there on 19 October 1942. David van Stratum however, ended up as forced labourer in the “Reichs Autobahnlager” Annaberg in Upper Silesia in Poland. After the war, it was known that David van Stratum had not survived the Holocaust, but it was not known where and when and under what circumstances. Therefore on order of the Ministry of Justice after the war, also for David van Stratum a certificate of death was drawn up in the municipality of Groningen, in which his place and date of death were established as in Mid Europe on 31 March 1944.
However, in 2015, research was carried out in Poland to victims of among others the labor camp “Reichsautobahnlager Annaberg” in Upper Silesia (Poland) where several certificates of death were found, including those of David van Stratum. This document shows that David van Stratum died already 15 December 1942 in camp Annaberg. On the death certificate is mentioned as cause of death “overall decay of the body” (allgemeine Körpervervall).
By establishing the date of death of David van Stratum, the official Dutch date of death of 31 March 1944 is maintained, a juridical date established after the war by the Dutch Department of Justice.
Sources include the website Alle Groningers/ birth certificate of David van Stratum 1310 dated 9 Sept 1918; certificate of death made out in Groningen on order of the Ministry of Justice, nr. 803 dated 27 Dec 1951; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of David van Stratum, Mozes van Stratum, Engeltje van Stratum-Simmeren and Martha van Stratum; website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland and Edward Haduch, Kedzierzyn-Lozle (Poland), the death certificate of David van Stratum from the Peoples Registry (Standesamt) Annaberg.