Eduard Maas was a son of Philip Maas and Anna Suisman. He was born on 18 November 1890 in Rotterdam, just over three years before Philip and Anna got married there on 17 January 1894 with Eduard then recognized as their child.
His father Philip Maas was previously married to Branka Vrank and his mother Anna Suisman to Izaak van Rijk, who had passed already on 17 March 1888, just 31 years old. Philip Maas passed away on 12 February 1914; Branka Vrank on 26 July 1887. Anna Suisman probably later in Rotterdam, after her return on 11 August 1924 from Den Haag.
From the first marriage of Philip Maas and Branka Vrank, two children were born, of whom one daughter died as a baby and the other one, Sara Maas, who became twice widowed from Jacob Samuel Boas and Elias Horneman, died on 6 February 1841 in Rotterdam. Of Sara’s family and relatives only a few survived the Shoah.
From the first marriage of Anna Suisman and Izaak van Rijk, five children were born, of whom three children have died as babies. Daughter Klara Fresco-van Rijk was killed with her family in Auschwitz, just as her brother Izaak.
Three children were born from the marriage of Philip Maas and Anna Suisman: Emanuel in 1890, Mietje in 1894 and Ruben in 1897. Ruben survived the war, Mietje van Delden-Maas was killed in Sobibor on 30 April 1943 and Emanuel on 28 January 1944 in Auschwitz.
Eduard Maas, a merchant in luxury items, was the first husband of the then 18-year old Anna Schnitzler, the natural daughter of Maria Schnitzler. They married on 25 October 1922 in Rotterdam and had a son Levi Heiman on 28 February 1923. However, their marriage did not last and Emanuel Maas and Sara Schitzler divorced by verdict of the District Court of Rotterdam on 5 March 1928.
After the divorce, Eduard Maas no longer remarried, lived still shortly in Den Haag but returned to Rotterdam, where he has lived in at various addresses in the city. He became a stage manager by profession. On 9 July 1940 he moved from Kruiskade 86b to Schietbaanstraat 41b, his last known address in Rotterdam.
Eduard Maas was registered in Westerbork on 10 December 1943 and deported to Auschwitz on 25 January 1944. On arrival there on 28 January 1944, he was immediately killed. His son Levi Heiman was registered in Westerbork between 19 and 22 October 1943 and locked up in the penal barrack 67. Together with his father, he was put on transport to Auschwitz on 25 January 1944. On arrival there he was selected and put to work as slave labourer. Levi Heiman Maas eventually lost his life in Auschwitz on 31 July 1944.
Sources include the City Archive of Rotterdam, family registration cards of Philip Maas, Eduard Maas and Levi Heiman Maas, birth certificate of Eduard Maas, wedding certificate of Philip Maas and Anna Suisman with recognition of Eduard Maas, wedding certificate of Eduard Maas and Sara Schitzler; the Municipal Archive of Den Haag, family registration card of Eduard Maas; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Eduard Maas and Levi Heiman Maas; the Wikipedia list of jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl and data of other researches of these families.