Salomon Hamburger was a son of Abraham Hamburger and Celina Tabak. He was bon on 20 February 1907 in Rotterdam and he was a sales representative by profession. On his age of ± 33 years Salomon married in Rotterdam – presumably in 1940/1941 the 23 year old Hendrika Cohen, a daughter of Charles Cohen and Elisabeth Stad. She was born in Rotterdam on 22 August 1917 and had also an older brother Izaak, who was born in June 1911 and who was married. He had a son and with his family he survived the Holocaust.
Also Salomon had an older brother, David Abraham Hamburger, who was born in Rotterdam on 13 June 1904 and who was married on 26 June 1930 to Jetje van Os. With her he had four children, lived in Haarlem/Heemstede and all members of the David Hamburger family have survived the Holocaust.
Salomon and Hendrika however became victims of the Shoah. After being married, they went living at Stadhoudersweg 147b in Rotterdam, where their son Charles was born on 15 February 1942. He survived the war. Archives of the Jewish Council show that Salomon, who originally was a sales representative, was registered at the Jewish Council as a “caregiver of the sick/nurse” and Hendrika as “Manager/Leader of a Resthome”.
But on 15 October 1942, Salomon and his wife Hendrika were arrested by the Rotterdam police and held in custody for the Sicherheits Polizei. They were locked up in the basement of the police station, waiting for transportation to Westerbork, whereto Hendrika was carried off on 24 October 1942. It appeared however from the Rotterdam Police archives that although Salomon Hamburger was arrested together with his wife in October 1942, he was not sent to Westerbork until 11 December 1942.
Hendrika Hamburger Cohen was carried off from Westerbork to concentration camp Vught on 17 March 1943 where she stayed in barrack 31A and had to work there for some time as a nanny. The Jewish Council in Amsterdam received a letter from Vught, written by Hendrika on 21 April 1943 but it is unknown to whom that letter was addressed. On 2 July 1943 she had been sent back from Vught to Westerbork and a few days later, on 6 July 1942 she was put on a transport to Sobibor with more than 2400 other deportees. On arrival there on 9 July 1943 all the deportees, including Hendrika Hamburger-Cohen, were killed immediately in the gas chambers there.
From his Rotterdam police cell, Salomon Hamburger however, arrived in Westerbork only 11 December 1942 where he had to stay shortly in the penal barrack 67 but soon after was replaced to another barrack. On 11 January 1943 he was deported to Auschwitz and on arrival there on 14 January 1943, Salomon Hamburger was immediately killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Sourdes include the City Archive of Rotterdam, family registration cards of Charles Cohen, Abraham Hamburger; The Rotterdam Police Archive, arrestee cards of Salomon Hamburger and Hendrika Hamburger-Cohen; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Salomon Hamburger and Hendrika Hamburger-Cohen, Izaak Cohen (1911) and David Abraham Hamburger (1904) and the website ITS Arolson/camp cards Vught of Hendrika Hamburger-Cohen.