Biography

The fate of Judith Speelman and her husband Isidore Henri van Dantzig.

Judith Speelman, born in Amsterdam on 5 January 1914 as a daugther of Jacob Abraham Speelman and Alida Blits, was an artist and singer and was known as Julia Monteris. Judith was born at the address Graaf Florisstraat 21, where her parents went living after they got married in Februry 1913. Also her brother Simon was born there.

Judith, her parents and brother lived at Graaf Florisstraat until 1934, after which they moved in March 1934 to Swammerdamstraat 58, in 1936 to Vechtstraat 58 and after a few months there to house nr. 150. On 12 November 1938 the family moved into a house at Hofmeyrstraat 11 2nd floor, where on 20 May 1940 also Isidore Henri van Dantzig came living in. They have lived there till their deportation.

On 1 April 1942, Judith Speelman married in Amsterdam the instrument maker Isidore Henri Speelman, who was born in Rotterdam on 16 March 1921 as a son of Salomon van Dantzig and Hanna Cune. After his father had been admitted in the psychiatric intstitute “Oud Rosenburg” in Loosduinen in 1929, and he, his mother and brothers from Den Haag had returned to Rotterdam, he left again for Den Haag in 1930, where he lived in at Stevinstraat 173, Seinpost 26 and Gevers Deynootweg 35.

Isidore Henri moved however to Hoendiepstraat 35 1st floor in Amsterdam on 2 June 1938. Also there he changed addresses still a few times: 21 April 1939 it was Hemonystraat 44 2nd floor and on 20 May 1940 Hofmeyrstaat 11 2nd floor in Amsterdam-East, where Judith Speelman, her parents and brother lived.

On 16 July 1942, when the first deportations had started, Judith and Isidore Henri had to report (whether or not forced) and on the night of 19 July at 02:36 AM they were taken by train from Amsterdam Central Station to Camp Westerbork. However, there are no notes on either of their Jewish Council registration cards that could confirm a call for the so-called “Arbeitseinsatz” to perform additional work under police surveilance in Germany. It is also not known whether they reported voluntarily.

The transport from Amsterdam arrived 20 July in Hooghalen and the last kilometers to Camp Westerbork had to be walked. Already the next day, the 21st of July 1942, Judith van Dantzig-Speelman and her husband Isidore Henri van Dantzig were put on transport to Auschwitz. The deportation train contained 931 deportees in total and arrived in Auschwitz ±23 July 1942. Judith as well Isidore Henri were put to work in Auschwitz, albeit under appalling conditions in which many quickly lost their lives.

It is unknown when exactly Judith has died in Auschwitz, or perhaps murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Therefore, the Dutch Authorities after the war have established – partly based on testimonies of survivors and researches – that Judith Speelman no longer could be alive after 30 September. The City of Amsterdam then has been commissioned to draw up a certicate of death for Judith van Dantzig-Speelman, in which was established that she has died in Auschwitz on 30 September 1942.

Initially, the exact place and date of death of Isidore Henri van Dantzig was not known either. That is why the Dutch authorities after the war also established for him, that he too died on 30 September 1942 in Auschwitz. However, remaining death registers of Auschwitz – “Sterbebücher” – show that Isidore Henri van Dantzig was already murdered on 22 August 1942 in Auschwitz. However, the officially established death dates remain on the website of the Jewish Monument, with a reference to the deviating date of death. 

Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, archive cards Judith Speelman and Isidore Henri van Dantzig; website “Stambomen Nederlands Joodse Families” by Max van Dam/ Judith Speelman; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Judith Speelman and Isidore Henri van Dantzig; Dutch Red Cross/Jewish Council – transport list of 19 July 1942 Amsterdam Central Station ->Westerbork train nr. 2 – departing CS 02.36 h.; Wikipedia website “Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl”; death certificates for Judith van Dantzig-Speelman, nr. 23 d.ated 4 August 1950 from the A-register 45-folio 5verso and for  Isidore Henri van Dantzig, nr. 442 dated 20 July 1950 frofm the A-register 42-folio 76 and the website Memorial & Museum Auschwitz Birkenau/Auschwitz prisoners/Isidore Henri van Dantzig.

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