Estera Brana Kon was a daughter of Mosiek Markus Kon, born in Plock in Poland in 1878 and Chana Dydakov, born at Polish Biezun in 1882. Estera Brana was born on December 25, 1917 in Biezun (Poland), lived with her parents and brothers Hersz, Icek, Cyon and Szymon in Plock. She arrived with her parents and brothers in Amsterdam on 25 July 1931 and lived at first at various addresses in the city but since early December 1932 they moved into a house at Blasiusstraat 58 and 28 August 1935 they moved to nr. 46 in Amsterdam-East.
Her brother Herz survived the Holocaust, just as his son Israel Kon but his wife Gela Kon-Silberberg was killed in Auschwitz on 19 November 1943. Estera’s brother Icek lost his live on 15 July 1944 in Monowitz and his wife Marianne Smit was killed in Sobibor on 9 July 1943. Her other brother lost his live somewhere in Mid-Europe on 31 March 1944 but his wife Esther Agsteribbe, to whom he was married for weeks before his deportation, was killed in Auschwitz on 3 December 1943. Estera’s youngest brother Szymon lived at home with his parents. Her father, mother and brother were killed eventually 23 July 1943 in Sobibor.
Estera Brana Kon married on 3 January 1940 in Amsterdam to Abraham Lajp (Lijb) Ickowicz, a son of Wolf Abe Ickowicz and Chene Szmulewicz. After her marriage, she lived with her husband Abraham in Ruyschstraat 20 II in Amsterdam East. The couple had no children.
In response to the call for the so-called “Arbeitseinsatz” in Germany (provision of additional work in Germany), Abraham Lijb Ickowicz and his wife Estera Brana Kon probably have responded such a call and reported for it in Westerbork. On Wednesday, 15 July 1942, the first transport departed with 1137 Jews, including Abraham Lajp and Estera Brana. The first transports to Auschwitz mainly consisted of young men, later transports also consisted of women and children.
The transport of 15 July 1942 arrived on 18 July in Auschwitz and Abraham Lijb and his wife Estera were deployed there as forced laborers. Possibly due to his Polish nationality and speaking the language, Abraham Lijb Ickowicz managed to survive the misery and hardships of the camps and survived the Holocaust. On his return to Amsterdam, he stated that he had come back from Mühldorf, one of the many sub-camps of the Dachau concentration camp.
It might have been possible that Abraham Lijb Ickowicz, due to the approach of the Russian Red Army, was part of one of the so-called evacuation transports from Auschwitz to Dachau; on 20 January 1945, such an evacuation transport departed from Auschwitz: on foot to Gleiwitz and from there by train to Dachau, which arrived there on 28 January 1945. One of the groups of prisoners was the so-called “Canada Kommando” from Auschwitz, with which it is not said here, that Abraham Lijb Ickowicz was part of that Kommando. (source: booklet Auschwitz volume IV, page 16, the transports to the north and west and the large evacuation transports, Dutch Red Cross edition).
Estera Brana Kon, Abraham's wife, was put on transport to Auschwitz on 15 July1942 together with her husband. She was also employed as a forced laborer upon arrival. However, it is not known when exactly and under what circumstances Estera Brana died. Therefore, after the war, the Ministry of Justice in the Netherlands ordered the Municipality of Amsterdam to draw up a death certificate for Estera Brana Kon, establishing that she has died on 30 September 1942 in Auschwitz.
Sources including the City Archives of Rotterdam, family registration card of Abraham Lajp Ickowicz; the Amsterdam City Archives, archive cards of Mosiek Markus Kon, Estera Brana Kon; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Abraham Lajp Icowicz, Estera Brana Icowicz-Kon; death certificate of Estera Brana Kon from Amsterdam, no.149 from A-reg.43, folio 26 verso dated 20 July 1950 and the publication of the Red Cross, Auschwitz IV, the transports to the north and west and the large evacuation transports.