Leendert Porcelijn, the 4th of the seven children of Salomon Porcelijn and Rika Augurk, was born in Amsterdam on 12 July 1909. His profession was musician: he played the saxophone and the drums. On 1 November 1939 he married Matthea Bolle in Amsterdam, a daughter of Levie Bolle and Klaartje Kornalijnslijper. Matthea was born in Amsterdam on 16 August 1912 and till her marriage she worked as a costume seamstress. Leendert and Matthea had one son together, Salomon, who was born on 10 November 1942 in Amsterdam.
In 1924 Leendert lived shortly in Nijmegen, as all Porcelijn family members did. Per October 1924 they all lived again in Amsterdam, although at various addresses. When Leendert Porcelijn was still unmarried he lived already independently at own addresses, among others at Arntzeniusweg nr. 2 and nr. 9 in Amsterdam-East, however, in April 1938 again at Ruyschstraat 79 1st floor with his parents.
After Leendert and Matthea were married on 1 November 1939, they moved into living space with his sister Jeannette Porcelijn, who was married to Nathan van Coevorden and lived at Vechtstraat 150 1st floor in the Amsterdam River District but on 14 March 1940, they moved into their own house at Ingogostraat 8 1st floor in the Transvaal District of Amsterdam. There, their son Salomon was born who however died already on 9 January 1943; he was not even two months old yet.
In March 1943, Leendert Porcelijn was still working with the General Service of the Jewish Council. He had no official “Sperre”, but deportation had not been an issue until then. On 25 March 1943 he even was transferred to the department of vegetable distribution of the Council. However, on 16 April 1943 Leendert and his wife Matthea were still arrested and carried off to concentration camp Vught. Leendert became there a musician in the camp orchestra of Vught and Matthea, as a seamstress, was put to work with Menist at the rag sorting company. Both stayed in Vught till 18 October, after which they have been transferred from Vught to Westerbork, from where they were deported on 19 October 1943 with the same transport to Auschwitz, a transport of in total 1007 deportees.
Upon arrival on 22 October 1943, Matthea Porcelijn-Bolle was immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. However, at the time of selection her husband was still considered suitable to be deployed as a forced labourer. Eventually he ended up in the Extern Command Jawiszowizce, a satellite camp of Auschwitz, where he was put to work in the cole mines.
A survivor and/or co-prisoner from the Slingerbeekstraat 11 in Amsterdam, witnessed after the war that due to exhaustion, Leendert Porcelijn perished in Jwiszowice in January 1944. From various other statements of survivors and informations the Dutch Authorities have established after the war that Leendert Porcelijn no longer could be alive after 29 February 1944. The Ministry of Justice then commissioned the Municipality of Amsterdam to draw up a certificate of death for Leendert Porcelijn, in which has been officially determined that he has died in Jawiszowizce on 29 February 1944.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Salomon Porcelijn and Leendert Porcelijn; archive cards of Leendert Porcelijn, Matthea Bolla and baby Salomon Porcelijn (1942); the Amsterdam residence card of Vechtstraat 150; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Leendert Porcelijn and Matthea Porcelijn-Bolle; website ITS Arolson/camp cards of Leendert Porcelijn and Matthea Porcelijn-Bolle; and the official certificate of death for Leendert Porcelijn nr. 373 dated 28 September 1951, made out by the Municpality of Amsterdam from the A-register 87-folio 64.