Joseph Loonstijn was the eldest of the two sons of Isaac Loonstijn and Rosette Porcelijn. His father was a vendor of vegetables, fruit and fish and after the summer of 1942 he received a special exemption from the Jewish Council, a so-called “Joodsch Lokaal Sperre” – a Jewish Commerce Exemption: his trade was designated as a so called “Joodsch Lokaal”, a Jewish facility where only Jews were allowed to do their shopping. Thence Joseph self, his parents and his younger brother Salomon were exempted from deportation until further notice. They lived at Ruyschstraat in Amsterdam-East, at nr. 75 and since 1937 at nr. 90.
Joseph Loonstijn, who was born on 2 April 1926, worked as an apprentice tailor. As a result of the exemption of his father, he was only called up for “employment” on 26 May 1943 and sent to concentration camp Vught. There he was posted “with Splitter”, which was a reference for employment in the textile command. “Splitter” refers to the foreman or –woman of the furriers. On 18 October 1943 he has been deported from Vught through Westerbork to Auschwitz. This transport, with 1007 deportees, left one day later, 19 October 1943 from Westerbork and arrived in Auschwitz ± 22 October 1943.
Upon arrival in Auschwitz, Joseph Loonstijn was 16 years old and was selected for “work” and deployed in or outside the camp. Where exactly is unknown, nor his exact date and place of death. Conditions there were inhumane and many lost their lives there by hardship, diseases, mistreatment or were murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
After the war, when the above was not yet known, it was established by the Dutch authorities on the basis of survivors' testimonies that Joseph Loonstijn no longer could be alive after 31 March 1944. The Municipality of Amsterdam then was commissioned to draw up a death certificate in which it was established that Joseph Loonstijn officially had died on 31 March 1944 “in the surroundings of Auschwitz”. The Jewish Monument mentions this only as “in Auschwitz”.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card of Isaac Loonstijn, archive cards of Isaac Loonstijn and Joseph Loonstijn; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Joseph Loonstijn; website ITA Arolson, campcards from Vught of Joseph Loonstijn; the Wikipedia website jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl and the certificate of death for Joseph Loonstijn, no. 421 dated 19 July 1951 from the A-register 82-folio 72, made out in Amsterdam.