Hendrica van Kreeveld was a daughter of Joseph Isaac van Kreeveld from Hoorn and the in Amsterdam born Leentje Nikkelsberg. In October 1873 he arrived from Hoorn in Amsterdam, married there on 14 August 1889 and lived at Foeliestraat and Valkenburgerstraat in different houses, were on 1 November 1889 Isaac, and on 21 January 1892 Hendrica were born.
Hendrica’s father, Joseph Isaac van Kreeveld however passed away on 16 February 1892, only 22 years old and two days later he was interred in the Jewish Cemetery of Zeeburg in Amsterdam.
After de passing of her father, her mother Leentje Nikkelsberg remarried in January 1894 Juda Haamerslag, who was born in Amsterdam on 25 February 1872 but also early died there: on 5 January 1911. From this wedlock, three children were born. The third marriage of Leentje Nikkelsberg to Isaac Gans was concluded on 4 September 1917 in Bussum. Isaac Gans died on 16 May 1942 in Amsterdam but Leentje Gans-Nikkelsberg was murdered in Sobibore on 5 March 1943.
In the meantime, the unmarried Hendrica van Kreeveld had already three children in Amsterdam, viz. Joseph van Kreeveld on 20 April 1910, Juda van Kreeveld on 18 January 1912, but who died already on 18 February 1912, and Lena van Kreeveld on 12 March 1913. Not long after the birth of Lena, the 21-year old Hendrica arrived from Amsterdam in Antwerp with her remaining two children and found accomodation at the Plantijnlei-Oost no. 96. She supported herself as a housekeeper.
A month earlier, in May 1913, the 24-year-old diamond worker Michel Walvis had come to Antwerp and had also found housing at Plantijnlei-Oost 96. Michel was born on 8 June 1889 in Amsterdam, where he had married Duifje Kat in 1909 and had already a daughter Dina, who was born on 11 March 1919. When Michel came to Antwerp, his wife and daughter stayed behind in Amsterdam. Michel Walvis however moved in with Hendrica van Kreeveld and lived with her as husband and wife in an adulterous relationship. His lawful wife Duifje Kat with daughter Dina, arrived in Antwerp on 22 March 1914 and lived in the Korte Zavelstraat 24. Michel then stayed shortly with his wife and daughtrer but was also still housed at Plantijnlei-Oost 96.
On 16 May 1914, it was therefore formally and officially established that Michel Walvis was living in an adulterous relationship with Hendrica van Kreeveld as husband and wife and had left his legal wife Duifje Kat and his daughter, whereupon Duifje Kat filed a complaint against her husband with the Antwerp Public Prosecutor's Office, whom she accused of maintaining a concubine. There was no trial at that time. On the other hand, the Antwerp Immigration Service reported that the behavior of Hendrica van Kreeveld and Michel Walvis had not yet given rise to any complaints or comments.
The legal wed couple Walvis-Kat then returned to Amsterdam in July 1914, where on 12 October 1916 their 2nd child was born, a son named Samuel. Also Hendrica van Kreeveld had another child again, on 25 January 1915, her fourth. It was a son who was named Salomon van Kreeveld.
Mid October 1919, Hendrica left Amsterdam for Rotterdam, where she found employment as cleaning lady and seamstress. She stayed in Rotterdam and Schiedam at different addresses and returned to Amsterdam on 14 April 1922, where she went to live at Govert Flinckstraat 124 1st floor. Thereafter Hendrica stayed at changing addresses such as the Utrechtschestraat, the Korte Reguliersdwarsstraat, Amstelstraat, Amstel and in May 1927 she left Amsterdam for Den Haag.
Also in Den Haag, Hendrica changed frequently addresses but on 15 February 1932 she arrived again from Amsterdam in Den Haag, where she came living at Lekstraat 95a. According to documents from Den Haag, her profession then was a room landlady.
In those 30’s, Hendrica regularly went to Amsterdam, where she then stayed at Korte Regliersdwarsstraat 5 and Marnixstraat 405 1st floor, and then return to Den Haag where she once again lived at Lekastraat 95a, thereafter at Fluwelen Burgwal 17 and Schenkweg 52. At the end of November 1938 she moved again th Amsterdam, address Prinsengracht 876, which later turned out to be her last known address in Holland.
On 10 September 1942 Hendrica van Kreeveld was carried off to Westerbork and already the next day, on 11 September put on transport to Auschwitz with more than 900 othere deportees. In Cosel, located ±80 km west from Auschwitz, the train stopped and 120 men were forced to leave the train. They were put to work in the surrounding labour camps in Upper Silesia.
The remaining victims were transported onwards to Auschwitz; they arrived there on 14 September 1942 and all deportees, including Hendrica van Kreeveld, were immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, closed family registration cards and Population Registry 1874-1893/Joseph Isaac van Kreeveld; birth certificate 988 from register 2-folio 83 year 1892 for Hendrica van Kreeveld; archive card Hendrica van Kreeveld; the City Archive of Rotterdam, family registration card of Hendrica van Kreeveld; The Municipal Archive of Den Haag, family registration card of Hendrica van Kreeveld; the Dossier of Foreigners of the City of Antwerp 150493 /Hendrica van Kreeveld and 149632/Michel Walvis; various Amsterdam residence cards; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Hendrica van Kreeveld and the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl.