Willi Kan, textile manufacturer and son of Daniel Kan from Oldenzaal and Mathilde Klebe from Gießen in Germany, was born in Oldenzaal on 3 June 1898. He married Susannah van Minden in Amsterdam on 2 June 1931, a 26-year old daughter of the film dealer and keeper of movie theaters Raphael Abraham van Minden and Betsy Susan. Susannah was born in London on 25 September 1904. The Willi Kan couple had three children, namely Daniel in 1932 and in 1934 the twin Betsy and Raphael, all born in Amsterdam.
The records of the City Archive of Amsterdam show that the Willi Kan family has lived again for some time in Oldenzaal, after the birth of the twin in 1934 but on 20 January 1937 the family returned to Amsterdam and lived in the Jan van Eijckstraat 23 but moved on 5 September 1938 to the Den Texstraat 47.
On 2 August 1942, the family was registered in Westerbork. However, Willi Kan was employed at the administration of the vegetable supply and the “special service” of the Jewish Council, so in the first instance the Council was able to postpone the family from deportation but on 22 September 1942, the family again was registered in Westerbork. They stayed there more than four months, until the family was sent to concentration camp Vught on 20 February 1943. There, Willi was put to work in the Philips Command and Susannah and her children had to stay in the nursery.
The registration cards of concentration camp Vught show, that the children Daniel, Betsy and Raphael Kan were sent back from Vught to Westerbork on 16 July 1943, where they ended up in barrack 35, which served as an orphanage. Only on 11 September also Willi Kan and his wife Susannah van Minden were back in Westerbork where they were reunited with their children, however, they stayed in barrack 60 and the children in barrack 61.
On 15 February 1944 the Kan family was put on transport from Westerbork to Bergen Belsen, a transport of in total 773 deportees. On arrival they were undoubtedly confronted with the unimaginable circumstances there. On 9 October 1944 Willi Kan and his his wife Susannah Kan van Minden and their three children were deported from Bergen Belsen to Auschwitz.
Subsequently, it appears from the death certificates, drawn up after the war by order of the Dutch Ministry of Justice, that Daniel, Betsy and Raphael Kan lost their lives in Auschwitz on 12 Octboer 1944. By order of the District Court of Amsterdam of 19 February 1947, it has been established that Willi Kan and his wife Susannah Kan-van Minden died on or around 15 October 1944 in Auschwitz.
Sources includes the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Raphael van Minden and Willi Kan, archive cards of Willi Kan, Susannah van Minden, Daniel Kan, Betsy Kan, Raphael Kan and Raphael van Minden (1882); certificate fo birth no. 45 from Oldenzaal for Daniel Kan on 15 May 1851; certificate of birth no. 71 from Oldenzaal for Willi Kan on 3 June 1898; wedding certificate Willie Kan/ Susannah van Minden of 2 June 1931 in Amsterdam; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Willi Kan, Susannah van Minden, Daniel, Betsy and Raphael Kan; website ITS Arolson/camp cards from Vught of Willi Kan, Suzannah Kan-van Minden, Daniel, Betsy en Raphael Kan; wikipedia website jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl; death certificates made out in Amsterdam, for Betsy Kan from register A96-folio 50, no. 286 dated 28 May 1952, for Daniel Kan from register A96-folio 50 no. 287 dated 28 May 1952 and from register A46-folio 50verso no. 288 dated 28 May 1952; death certificates no’s 283 and 284 dated. 19 February 1947 from the death register 1947, nr. 8, folio 48verso for Willi Kan as for Susannah van Minden.