Hijman Bierman was the third of the four children of the second marriage of Levie Bierman and Heintje Jas. He was born on 11 December 1914, was exempted from the military service in the National Militia due to brotherly service, worked as a diamond polisher and later he had a job as a coal worker too. He married Greta Soep in Amsterdam on 10 September 1941; she was a daughter of Isaac Soep and Klaartje Bloemist and was born on 29 May 1919 in Amsterdam and she was a seamstress by profession. Hijman and Greta had no children.
Hijman was born in the Nieuwe Kerkstraat 30 and lived at home with his parents. They moved with the family in September 1927 to the Retiefstraat 38A ground floor and in August 1936 to the Laing’s Nekstraat 12 1st floor in Amsterdam-East. During the years of the 1930-ies Hijman Bierman had a vendor permit for selling ice cream in the city centre of Amsterdam. Also his father Levie Bierman had such a vendor permit those years for selling chocolate articles.
When Hijman married Greta Soep on 10 September 1941, they moved into living space at Nieuwe Prinsengracht 12 1st floor but after a year, in March 1942 they moved to Markenplein 5 3rd stock in the old city centre of Amsterdam. And in March 1943 they moved in with Greta’s parents, who lived at Lepelstraat at nr. 95 2nd floor.
On 25 March 1943 Hijman and Greta were both arrested and sent to concentration camp Vught, which had become recently into use. Greta Soep stayed there in block 32b and has sent a letter from there on 21 April 1943, as is mentioned on her registration card of the Jewish Council. But it is unclear to whom this letter was sent to.
In a direct transport from Vught to Auschwitz, Greta was deported on 15 November 1943. This transport arrived ±18 November in Auschwitz but on arrival she was not directly sent to the gas chambers but was put to work for slave-labour somewhere in- or outside the camp, obviously. But it is unknown where and when exactly Greta has lost her life.
It is therefore that the Dutch Authorities after the war have established – based on testimonials from survivors, repatriates, research and other informations, that Greta Bierman-Soep could no longer be alive after 31 January 1944. The Municipality of Amsterdam then was commissioned to draw up a certificate of death for Greta Soep, in which was established that she has died on 31 January 1944 (somewhere) in the vicinity of Auschwitz.
Hijman Bierman stayed in Vught, where he also has been ill, according to a note on his registration card from camp Vught. Furthermore, he has been imprisoned there the 12th of March 1944 and released the 15th, however, it is unknown what “offence” was the cause of his detention.
From a Dutch Red Cross publication, edited March 1952 regarding the large evacuation transports from the so-called Auschwitz-complex in the end-period, it has become clear that Hijman Bierman has been carried off on 18 January 1945 in such an evacuation transport to the concentration camp Dachau where he has arrived on 28 January 1945. The “evacuation” went “by foot” via Gross Rosen to Gleiwitz, and from there ±20 January further by train to Dachau. The prisoners of this evacuation transport were from Auschwitz, Monowitz, Birkenau, the Kanada Command and the Labor Command Buna Werke.
From that same publication it appears too that the prisoners from the transport from Auschwitz, and what has arrived in Dachau on 28 January 1945, mostly have been sent through to the labour command (“Arbeitskommando = briefly Ak.) to the Ak. Kaufering and Mühldorf. And another Dachau-document shows that Hijman Bierman has been “evacuated” from Dachau again on 21 February 1945. However, given the countless “Arbeitskommandos”(labor commands) to which the prisoners were sent to with these terribly heavy evacuation transports, it is not known where Hijman should have ended up and where and when exactly he has lost his life.
After the war, the Dutch Authorities have established, also based on testimonials of surviviors, repatriates, research and other informations, that Hijman Biermen could no longer be alive after 6 May 1945. The Municipality of Amsterdam then was commissioned to draw up a death certificate for Hijman Bierman, in which has established that he has died (somewhere) in Mid Europe on 6 May 1945.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card of Levie Bierman, archive cards of Hijman Bierman, Greta Soep and Isaac Soep; Vendor permits for Hijman Bierman (ice cream) and Levie Bierman (chocolate articles); the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Greta Bierman-Soep and Hijman Bierman; website ITS Arolson/ camp card Vught Hijman Bierman, registration form and a departing form from Dachau for Hijman Bierman; death certificates for Greta Bierman-Soep, nr. 63 dated 31 August 1951 from the A-register 85-folio 12 and for Hijman Bierman nr. 131 dated 15 February 1952 from the A-register 94-folio 23v; the Wikipedia listing jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl and de Dutch Red Cross publication from March 1952, Auschwitz volume VI, the large transfer transports and evacuation transport from the Auschwitz-complex paged 54-64.