Simon David was a son of Hartog David and Hendrika van der Sluijs. He was born on 11 August 1865 in Rotterdam in a family of in total six children: that were Levie (1857), Rosetta (1860), Elizabeth (1863), Wolf (1868), Isaac (1875) and Simon himself. His parents married in November 1857 but his father did not grow old: he died at the age of 50 in 1884 and his mother only in 1917, aged 82.
When Simon David married Elizabeth Springers in Rotterdam on 8 January 1890, he earned his living as dealer in bycles and hardware. His bride was a daughter of Aaltje Springers and an unknown father, born in Rotterdam too on 6 December 1867. After they were married, they lived in the Peperstraat 3 in Rotterdam, moved many times in the city and ended up per 14 Autust 1933 in a street named Boschje at nr. 17, a (small) street located near the Goudsesingel. But the last known address of Simon David in 1941/1942 was Beukelsdijk 21a in Rotterdam.
During the bombardment of Rotterdam on 14 May 1940, the nearby church at the beginning of the Goudsesingel and Pompenburg was destroyed. Because of its location on the aforementioned, now no longer existing (small little) street, the church was also called "Bosjeskerk" (Bosjes Church). The street name “Boschje” however was withdrawn by decision of Mayor & City Councel members of Rotterdam on 21 November 1952. (source: Facebook-Rotterdam van Toen).
Simon and Elizabeth had three children together, namely Hendrika in 1890, Lodewijk in 1892 and Aaltje in 1894. Lodewijk and Aaltje survived the Holocaust; Elizabeth Springers passed away 15 July 1933 in Rotterdam and was interred in the Jewish Cemetery Toepad in Rotterdam. However, daughter Hendrika, her husband Samson van Hesse and their son Joseph were killed in the Shoah, just like also Simon David himself.
Hendrika van Hesse-David and her husband Samson van Hesse were killed in Auschwitz on 19 October 1942. Their son Joseph on 9 July 1943 in Sobibor. The 77-year old Simon David was put on transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz on 12 October 1942 and on arrival there on 15 October 1942, immediately killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Sources include the City Archive of Rotterdam, family registration card of Simon David; website hetstenenarchief.nl/grave Elizabeth Springer; het Boschje: Facebook-Rotterdam van Toen; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Simon David and an addition of a visitor of the website.