Hijman Zwaaf was the third of the four children of Isaäc Zwaar and Bloeme Swaluw. He was born on 19 February 1919 in the Aert van Nesstraat 30b in Rotterdam, and moved with his parents in 1924 to Helmersstraat 23a, where he lived till he moved on 3 September 1939 to Aleidisstraat 73b. Hijman was unmarried and decorator and commercial artist by profession.
From his “provisional” registration card by the Jewish Coucil it was to deduce that Hijman has arrived in Westerbork on 4 August 1942. Most likely he has responded to the call for the so-called “provision of additional work in Germany”, the “Arbeitseinsatz” and on 7 August 1942 Hijman was put on a transport to Auschwitz.
The transport of in total 987 deportees, arrived in Auschwitz on 9 or 10 August 1942 and on arrival at the “Rampe” the loading platform of Auschwitz-Birkenau, where the trains arrived, Hijman was selected as a 23-year old man for forced labor. However, it is not known on which date exactly and under what circumstances Hijman Zwaaf has lost his life there. It is therefore that the Dutch Ministry of Justice has ordered the City of Rotterdam to draw up a certificate of death for Hijman Zwaaf, in which has been established that he has died on 30 September 1942 in Auschwitz.
Sources including the City Archive of Rotterdam, family registration card of Isaäc Zwaaf and the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Hijman Zwaaf; the Wikipedia listing of jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl and the certificate of death from the Rotterdam archive for Hijman Zwaaf, inventory 1950V3, folio 053, deed 1950.2649 dated 4 Aug 1950.