Cato Ossendrijver, born 19 February 1905 in Amsterdam, was the eldest of the three children of Saul Ossendrijver and Clara Rodrigues Pereira. She married Leendert Loonstijn in Amsterdam on 24 July 1929, diamond polisher and tailor by profession, who was born 24 April 1903 in Amsterdam as son of Joseph Loonstijn and Eva Vos. The couple had two children, namely Eva, born 20 April 1930 in Amsterdam and Paul, who was born in Utrecht on 9 September 1937. The whole family was killed during the Shoah.
After her marriage in April 1929 to Leendert Loonstly, they went living at Burgemeester Tellegenstraat 46 1st floor in Amsterdam-South, located between Hendrik de Keyserstraat and Pieter Lodewijk Takstraat, where the Loonstijn family moved to on 23 October 1933. In 1937 the family was complete, when Paul was born and came living in the family.
On 12 March 1943, Cato Loonstijn-Ossendrijver, her husband Leendert Loonstijn and their children Eva and Paul were arrested, taken from their home and carried off to concentration camp Vught. Their “luggage” would have been arrived there afterwards on 23 March. Cato Loonstijn stayed there from 21 April in the boy’s barrack 24a with her son Paul. But on 6 and 7 June, Eva and Paul were deported via Westerbork to Sobibor with the so-called “Children transport”. And their mother Cato Ossendrijver went with them. In Westerbork Cato, Eva and Paul were accommodated in barrack 58 and on 8 June 1943 put on transport to Sobibor. On arrival there, they were immediately killed in the gas chambers on 11 June 1943.
Leendert Loonstijn however, stayed for over one year in camp Vught: from 12 March 1943 till 21 March 1944. It is not knonw whether he has been put to work in the so-called “Aussen Kommandos”- external commands, but most likely Leendert worked as sorter of rags with the firm named Menix or as tailor with the firm Escotex, which were established in the camp. After his transfer from Vught to Westerbork on 21 March 1944, he was deported to Auschwitz two days later on 23 March 1944.
On arrival in Auschwitz, about 26 March 1944, the then 41-year old Leendert Loonstijn has not been sent to the gas chambers but was selected to perform forced labor, presumably in one of the satellite camps of Auschwitz. Ultimately, as the Russian Army was approaching, Leendert ended up with the evacuation transports from Auschwitz in the concentration camp Hannover-Mühlenberg, were he was put to work for the Hanomag machinery and equipment factory in the so-called External Command Mühlenberg. On the evacuation of the camp on 6 April 1945, Leendert Loonstijn and another 50 Dutch prisoners, have been shot to death.
However, according to a personal record card of Leendert Loonstijn of 22 November 1951 and also based on a testimony of a Mr. I. de Leeuw from the Christian de Wetstraat 10 in Amsterdam, the Dutch Ministry of Justice after the war ordered the municipality of Amsterdam to draw up a certificate of death for Leendert Loonstijn, in which has been established that Leendert Loonstijn has died in concentration camp Hannover-Mühlenberg on 5 April 1945.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card of Saul Ossendrijver, archive cards of Cato Ossendrijver and Leendert Loonstijn; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Cato Loonstijn-Ossendrijver, Eva Loonstijn, Paul Loonstijn and Leendert Loonstijn; archives ITS Bad Aroloson re Leendert Loonstijn; certificate of death from Amsterdam for Leendert Loonstijn, nr. 539 dated 22 Februray 1952 in register A94-fol.90 and the Wikipedia websites Children transports from Vught and website Concentration camp Hannover Mühlenberg. (both the latter only dutch language)