Betje Polak was the third of the six children of Jacobus Polak and Vroukje de Jong. She was born on 14 September 1876 in Rotterdam and married there on 23 May 1918, aged 41, the 49-year old widower of Sara Davidson, Simon Hornman, a son of Joseph Hornman and Jetta van Zwanenberg and who was born in Rotterdam on 4 November 1868.
Simon Hornman married his first wife Sara Davidson on 8 June 1892 and had with her two children, namely Joseph in 1894 and Jacob in 1902. Joseph was married in 1922 to Margaretha Marx and in 1926 their son Simon was born. Joseph however passed away already in 1928 and his wife Margaretha in June 1940. She was interred in the Jewish Cemetery Toepad in Rotterdam.
After the passing of their sister-in-law and widow Margaretha Hornman-Marx, Simon's son Jacob and his wife Kaatje Frank, adopted her ten 14-year old son Simon; he survived the Holocaust. Jacob however was killed in 1943 in Sobibor, together with his wife. Simon’s first wife Sara Davidson passed away in Rotterdam on 26 December 1916 and was interred there in the Jewish Cemetery Toepad. No offspring was born from the second wedlock of Simon Hornman and Betje Polak.
The couple Hornman-Polak lived among others in the Aleidisstraat 72a and later at Spoorsingel 74b in Rotterdam. After the passing of the parents of Betje Polak, (father in 1920 and mother in 1928), Betje’s eldest brother Noach became head of the family. He remained living in the parental home at Schiedamsedijk, where also his siblings Mozes, Henrietta and Hendrika lived in.
When Noach married Lena Stad in 1931 and they went living in the Lange Pannekoekstrat 10a, Mozes and Hendrika had to find accommodation elsewhere, which they found with their sister Betje and brother-in-law Simon Hornman at the Spoorsingel 74b. Meantime, Henrietta Polak was married to Isidore de Wind and moved to Den Haag, however, when he passed away there in 1939, Henrietta returned to Rotterdam and found also a place in the house of Betje and Simon at Spoorsingel 74b.
However not recorded on their registration cards of the Jewish Council, also Betje Polak and her husband Simon Hornman were most likely taken to Westerbork on 13 October 1942. Striking is that except Betje and Simon, also Betje’s brother Noach and his wife Lena Stad and her sisters Hendrika and Henrietta Polak were all taken from their home address that same day and sent to Westerbork.
All were deported to Auschwitz on 16 October and on arrival on 19 October 1942 they were immediately killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau: Betje Hornman-Polak, her husband Simon Hornman, her brother Noach Polak and his wife Lena Polak-Stad and her sisters Hendrika Polak and Henrietta de Wind-Polak.
Sources include the City Archive of Rotterdam, family registration card of Noach Polak and Simon Hornman, wedding certificate from Rotterdam Hornman/Sara Davidson, certificate of death of Sara Davidson, wedding certificate Simon Hornman/Betje Polak; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Simon Hornman, Betje Hornman-Polak, Jacob Hornman, Kaatje Hornman-Frank and Simon Hornman (1928).