Esther van West was the eldest of the five children of Levie van West and Margaretha de Metz. She was born in Amsterdam on 3 October 1872 and married David Koekoek on 17 May 1899 in Antwerp. He was born in Den Haag on 14 October 1872 as a son of Salomon Koekoek and Elisabeth van Creveld
David Koekoek arrived from den Haag in Antwerp already in November 1895, where he worked as commercial agent. He then lived at Diamantsteeg 12. In 1899 he got married to Esther van West, who also stayed in Antwerp already from 1895 and together, they lived at Avenue de Keizer no. 48in Antwerp. Till 1908 they remained in Antwerp, then they moved to Borgerhout, where they lived from 1908 till 1914. In 1918 their address was Vestingstraat 40 in Antwerp.
They also commuted several times to the Netherlands, living in Arnhem, Amsterdam and The Hague, after which they returned to Brussels and Antwerp in 1920. In 1924 they stayed for a few months in Elsene and in October 1924 they moved to Etterbeek, a sub-municipality of the Brussels region.
David Koekoek passed away in Etterbeek on 21 January 1926, only 53 years old. As far as could researched, David and Esther had no children. On 11 September 1926 Esther then moved to Brantstraat 60 in Antwerp, became a house keeper with the widow Polak, to provide in her own livelihood; she there earned Bfrs. 250 monthly plus board and lodging.
In 1930 she lived at Oostenstraat 49 and later at Conciencestraat 24 in Antwerp. She worked there as a hous keeper with diamond dealer Antonio Maimone, where she earned Bfrs 400 monthly.
In the end, also for Esther van West followed arrest and deportation in 1942 and she ended up in the assembly camp in Mechelen, together with the wife of Jacob van West, her cousin first degree, Margaretha van West-Boas. On 10 October the compilation of the list of the Jews to be deported in convoy XIV (14th) started, what finally would be consist of 996 people.
At the same time, the compilation of the list for the XV (15th) convoy started too, which would mainly consist of “compulsory workers” from the camps of Organization Todt at Charleville and Rochelle. Together the 14th and 15th convoy formed one transport with in total 1471 victims.
The 14th and 15th convoy with 1471 deported men, women and children left 24 October 1942 from Mechelen to Auschwitz, which arrived there on 26 October. Many of the men are “workers”, who were not sent to the gas chambers. But 895 persons were murdered immediately, of whom the main part were women.
Formal death certificates turned out to be untraceable, which is why it can be assumed with a high degree of probability, that the 70-year-old Ester van West and her younger 56-year-old cousin Margaretha van West-Boas by marriage belonged to the group of 895 victims who were murdered immediately after arrival on 26 October 1942 in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau .
Sources include the Dossiers of Foreigners of the City of Antwerp, no’s 78582 and 85256; the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card of David Koekoek; the Municipality Archive of Den Haag, family registration card of David Koekoek; Transport list Mechelen-Auschwitz regarding thr 14th and 15th convoy and the Memorial of the Deportation of the Belgian Jews/Esther van West and Margaretha van West-Boas.