Adolf Schaap was a son of Hartog Schaap and Johanna Gobas. He was unmarried and he earned his money as a barber, dealer in shoelaces and as a dance master in the dance school of his brother-in-law Cornelis van Rooijen in Beverwijk, who was married to his sister Julia Schaap. Adolf led a rather nomadic life, just like his father Hartog, who was originally a butcher by profession, but later provided for himself as an artist.
Adolf was born in Hilversum on 27 March 1909 but on 2 May 1916, he lived with his mother in Enschede. From 1 to 29 November 1929 he stayed in Warnsveld and thereafter again in Enschede. On 13 February 1930 he was registered in Den Bosch but in July 1930 he was back in Enschede again. Other whereabouts of Adolf were Den Helder, where his sister Julia then lived and Zandvoort, where his other sister Sara lived with her husband since 1940.
On 12 February 1941 Adolf was registered at De Witstraat 19 in Haarlem, in April 1941 he stayed in Amsterdam without an address but on 17 December 1941 he was registered at Herengracht 137 upperhouse. Meantime, Adolf also lived at Zeestraat 14 in Beverwijk, when he acted as a dance teacher in his brother-in-law's dance school there. On 8 May 1942 he officially lived in Amsterdam at Plantage Kerklaan 24, where he was registered by the Jewish Council then but in July 1942, Adolf already had moved again to Nieuwe Amstelstraat 33 1st floor in Amsterdam.
His registration card of the Jewish Council shows that Adolf Schaap was in Westerbork on 22 September 1942, but the notes on his card shows also that he has been “zurückgestellt” for transports on 22, 23 or 24 September - postponement from deportations - and that (for unknown reasons) he was discharged from Westerbork on 29 September 1942.
The next day, on 30 September 1942, Adolf Schaap was admitted as a patient in the Central Israelitic Psychiatric Hospital “Het Apeldoornsche Bosch” at Zutphensestraat 106 in Apeldoorn. When the Germans emptied Het Apeldoornsche Bosch on 22 January 1943, also Adolf Schaap as one of the patients, together with members of staff was deported to Auschwitz and upon arrival there on 25 January 1943 immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, archive card of Adolf Schaap and the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Adolf Schaap and the website Oorlogsdoden Oldenzaal.nl (Dutch Language only).