Johanna de Wit was the 2nd of the four children of Levie de Wit and Grietje de Roode. She was born on 9 March 1915 in Rotterdam and married there the commercial representative Hijman David van der Stam, a son of David Jacob van der Stam and Rebecca Dina van der Sluis. He was born on 6 July 1911 in Rotterdam. On 29 October 1940 their daughter Bep van der Stam was born and they lived at Stadhoudersweg 112d in Rotterdam.
Presumably, the Hijman David van der Stam family had gone into hiding but somewhere in October 1943 they were arrested. It is unknown whether they were betrayed or that there was another reason for their arrest. But on 28 October 1943 Hijman, his wife Johanna and their daughter Bep were carried off to Westerbork and locked up in the penal barrack 67.
On 16 November 1943, they were deported in a so-called penal transport to Auschwitz. This transport would be also the last one from Westerbork to Auschwitz in 1943 as the train material had to be deployed for the German military in the upcoming Christmas recess. Also the Westerbork camp had to be quarantined due to an outbreak of polio.
A few days later, upon arrival in Auschwitz on 19 November 1943, the then 32-year old Hijman David van der Stam was selected to be deployed as a forced labourer but the circumstances to “work” were inhumane. It is unknown when and where exactly Hijman lost his life, but after the war, also based on testimonies of survivors, the Dutch Ministry of Justice commissioned the City of Rotterdam to draw up a certificate of death for Hijman David van der Stam, in which is established that he has died in the vicinity of Auschwitz on 31 March 1944.
However, Hijman’s wife Johanna van der Stam-de Wit and his little daughter Bep were immediately murdered upon arrival on 19 November 1943 in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Sources include the City Archive of Rotterdam, family registration card of Hijman David van der Stam; website wiewaswie.nl/wedding Van der Stam-de Wit; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Hijman David van der Stam, Johanna van der Stam-de Wit and Bep van der Stam; the death certificate nr. 1500 dated 31 August 1951 made out in Rotterdam for Hijman David van der Stam and the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl.