Levie Bierman was a son of Salomon Bierman and Vrouwtje Liest. He was born on 27 July 1875 in Amsterdam and was employed as a diamond polisher. On 13 May 1896 he married there Sara Italiaander, a daughter of Simon Italiaander and Beletje Isaac Luza. She was born in Amsterdam too, on 15 October 1872.
Between June 1896 and January 1910, the Bierman-Italiaander couple had ten children, namely Vrouwtje, Betje, Salomon, Eva, Abraham, Simon, Sophia, Meijer, Maurits and Sara Eva, who was born on 8 January 1910. Her mother, Sara Italiaander however died in childbirth the next day on 9 January 1910.
Of the children from Levie’s first marriage died Eva in 1902, aged 1 year; Sophia died in 1905, only 4 months old and Meijer passed away in 1924, aged 17 years. The others and their families were murdered in German camps during the Shoah.
After the passing of Sara Italiaander, Levie Bierman remarried on 231 May 1911 Heintje Jas, a daughter of Wolf Abraham Jas and Hendrika Abraham Woudstra; she was born in Amsterdam on 17 March 1884. With Heintje had Levie four more children, namely Hendrika, Benjamin, Hijman and Rachel, of whom Hendrika survived the war, due to her mixed marriage. Benjamin survived the horrors of the Holocaust and returned from Dachau in Amsterdam but his wife died in Auschwitz. Also Hijman and the still at home living Rachel Bierman were killed during the Shoah.
With his first wife Sara Italiaander, Levie Bierman lived at several houses in the Lange Houtstraat in Amsterdam, but also in the Nieuwe Kerkstraat, the Vrolikstraat, the Rapenburgerstraat and the Retiefstraat. On 27 August 1936 the Levie Bierman family moved into a house in the Laing’s Nekstraat 12 1st floor in Amsterdam, which would turn out to be also their last known address in the Netherlands.
Levie Bierman, his wife Heintje Jas and 15-year-old daughter Rachel, who still lived at home, were among the very first group of prisoners who were sent on 15 January 1943 to the new concentration camp in Vught, which was still under construction, and of which the building had already started in 1942. Prisoners had to further complete the camp themselves.
Levie, Heintje and Rachel Bierman stayed in Vught till 23 May 1943 and were transferred to Westerbork in the night of 23 tgo 24 May. There they ended up in barrack 61, waiting for their further fate, which came already the 25th, when they were put on transport to Sobibor with more than 2860 other deportees and upon arrival there on 28 May 1943 immediately were killed in the gas chambers.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Levie Bierman, archive cards of Levie Bierman, Heintje Jas and Rachel Bierman; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration ards of Levie Bierman, Heintje Bierman-Jas and Rachel Bierman; website ITA Arolson/camp cards Vught of Levie Bierman, Heintje Bierman-Jas and Rachel Bierman; the Wikipedia website kamp Vught and the Wikipedia website jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl.