Sara Gobes was a daughter of Abraham Gobes and Bloeme Gosler. She was born in Amsterdam on 16 September 1869 and married there Jacob Katwijk on 8 May 1890, a son of Levie Gumpel Katwijk and Betje Eleazer Bas. He was born in Amsterdam on 2 December 1867 and was a diamond cutter by profession. Sara Gobes worked as a buttonhole maker before her marriage.
Between July 1890 and January 1906, the couple Katwijk-Gobes had nine children, of whom one son, Louis, died already in childhood in 1899, only 14 months old. Their children Bloeme, Mietje, Joseph and Alexander survived the war however Betje, Abraham, Rachel and Esther were murdered in Auschwitz during the Shoah. Sara’s husband Jacob Katwijk passed away on 29 July 1920 at the age of 52 years; he was interred in the Jewish Cemetery in Diemen.
The family registration cards of Jacob Katwijk from the City Archive of Amsterdam show, that Jacob and Sara with their children have moved at least seven times in Amsterdam. The first six years of their marriage they lived in the old city centre of Amsterdam, moved to Waterlooplein 91 in the end of October 1896, in February 1900 to Oude Schans 18 2nd floor, in November 1901 to Blasiusstraat 107 2nd floor, where Jacob Katwijk passed away on 29 July 1920.
Sara, now widowed, moved in the Blasiusstraat to house number 46 2nd floor on 18 September 1920, where in February 1927 also her daughter Bloeme with her husband Israel Jacobson, stepson Benjamin Johan and Sara’s granddaughter Rebecca came to live in. Then on 25 May 1935 to Tweede Jan van der Heijdestraat 18 2nd floor, on 15 June 1937 to the Andreas Bonnstraat 42 1st stock where she lived in with her son-in-law Theodorus Arie Lewis, who was recently married (on 25 February 1937) to Sara’s daughter Mietje Katwijk.
On 18 July 1938 she left for Ruyschstraat 102 2nd floor, where also her daughter Esther came living in and where also a Salomon Gobits and his mother Engeltje Gobits lodged (no family). Sara’s last known address in Amsterdam was per 8 May 1941 Andreas Bonnstraat 42 2nd floor.
Then it turned out that her still unmarried and almost 51 year old daughter Betje Katwijk had plans to marry the 60-year-old widower of Judikje Troostwijk, Daniel van Gelder. For that purpose, her daughter left for Assen on 17 March 1941, Steendijk 27 and one month later, on 21 April 1941 the wedding was performed in Assen. it may be assumed that Sara, as Betje’s mother, certainly has been present and that she remained with the “young couple” for some time afterwards.
Whether the longer stay of Daniel van Gelder's mother-in-law Sara Gobes had something to do with it, or whether things soon fell apart between the newlyweds, the story does not tell. But, that a banging argument has arisen, where even the police had to intervene! The day and night reports of the Assen municipal police show that Daniel van Gelder kicked his wife Betsy/Betje Katwijk and his mother-in-law on 11 June 1941 out of the house after an argument. The next day, on June 12, Betsy sells the curtains to the neighbor, which enabled her to bear the cost of the return trip to Amsterdam. (source Drents Archive).
Sara then returned to Amsterdam to her last known address in Andreas Bonnstraat 42 II. Presumably she has been arrested there at some point and carried off to Westerbork, from where she was deported to Sobibor on 6 July. From the transport list of 6 July 1943 it appears that Sara Katwijk-Gobes was one of the 66 deportees who at the last minute has been added to the ready transport as “Nachtrag zum Normaltransport” (addition), which included now a total of 2417 deportees. On arrival in Sobibor on 9 July 1943 she was immediately murdered in gas chambers.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Jacob Katwijk (1867), archive card of Sara Gobes; residence cards Amsterdam among others Tweede Jan van der Heijdestraat 18 and Andreas Bonnstraat 42; website hetstenenarchief.nl/grave Jacob Katwijk (1867); website wiewaswie.nl/marriage Katwijk/Gobes and the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Sara Katwijk-Gobes; the Archive of Drenthe/police reports Assen 1941; The Archives of the Dutch Red Cross/transportlists Amsterdam to Westerbork; “Extermination camp Sobibor”2nd editon 1994, edited by De Bataafse Leeuw, author Jules Schelvis/transport list Westerbork-Sobibor of 6 July 1943 and the Wikipedia website jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl.