Lezer de Groot was a son of Mozes de Groot and Julia Schaap, who was born in Amersfoort on 3 Maart 1928. On 24 August 1929 he had a brother Israël, who was born in Zeist. Probably because of the trade of his father, who was a dealer in second-hand merchandise, they resided regularly in other places like in Enschede, Den Bosch, Utrecht or Amersfoort.
However, the parents of Lezer and Israël divorced in Enschede on 30 August 1932, after which their father Mozes remarried on 2 August 1933 in Utrecht Parle Blitz, a daughter of Abraham Blitz and Henriëtte de Hond. From their father's second marriage, their half-brother Abraham was born on 27 January 1937 in Amersfoort.
When his parents were divorced, Israël de Groot was just 3 years olf and he remained living with his mother but Lezer stayed with his father. After their father was married again, Lezer, Abraham and their father and stepmother Parle Blitz lived in Amersfoort but moved on 7 June 1937 to the Ternatestraat 6-bis-a in Utrecht. On 17 March 1939 the family moved from Utrecht to Blasiusstraat 100 2nd floor in Amsterdam.
On 15 March 1941, there was a big party in the De Groot house. On that date Lezer celebrated his Bar Mitzvah and on the occasion of his “Barmitswo feast”, Lezer received “a gift from the Talmud Torah School”, a Tefilla, a prayer book with berachot and prayers for weekdays, shabats and holidays.
In the summer of 1942, Lezer, his father, stepmother and halfbrother Abraham were arrested and carried off to Westerbork where they were registered on 6 September 1942. Already the next day, on 7 September, they have been all put on transport to Auschwitz.
Father Mozes and another 109 deportees, were forced to leave the train during a stopover in Kozel; he shall be deployed as forced labourer in one of the many labor camps in the industrial area of Upper Silezia and will die of abuse, deprivation and inhumane conditions.
As the train continues to Auschwitz and arrives there on 10 September 1942, the 14-year-old Lezer, his 5-year-old half-brother Abraham and their 38-year-old stepmother/mother Parle Blitz are immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, archive cards of Lezer and Abraham de Groot, Mozes de Groot and Parle de Groot-Blitz and the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Lezer en Abraham de Groot, Mozes de Groot and Parle de Groot-Blitz.