Jacob Schouten, cigar maker and son of Barend Schouten and Saartje Halberstad, was born in Amsterdam on 4 February 1889. He married Keetje van West in Amsterdam on 19 November 1913, a daughter of Benjamin van West and Rachel Vrachtdoender. The Schouten-van West couple had no children.
After the wedding was concluded, Jacob and Keetje moved into living space at Valkenburgerstraat 91 in Amsterdam, moved in September 1916 to Verwerstraat 23 and in April 1928 to Retiefstraat 108 1st floor in Amsterdam-East. This appeared to be also their last known address in the Netherlands.
Jacob Schouten’s sister, Marianne Schouten, married Jonas Polak in 1917. After the wedding was concluded, they lived in with Jacob and Keetje for some time, from where they left in September 1918 and found lodging with Jacob’s father Barend Schouten and in May 1919 they moved into a house at Weesperstraat 35. In 1929, Jonas and Marianne became neighbours of Jacob and Keetje again when they also came to live at Retiefstraat in Amsterdam-East, however at no. 110 1st floor. They too were murdered during the Shoah, together with their two daughters Sara and Lena and son-in-law Barend Winnik.
On 1 February 1943, Jacob Schouten and his wife Keetje van West were carried off from the Borneokade in Amsterdam to Camp Westerbork, where they have been registered on 2 February. In barrack 73 they had to wait for their deportation, which followd on 9 February. On 12 February 1943 the transport with in total 1184 victims, arrived in Auschwitz, where upon arrival Jacob and his wife Keetje were immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Jacob and Barend Schouten and Jonas Polak, archive cards of Jacob Schouten, Keetje van West, Marianne Schouten and Jonas Polak; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Jacob Schouten, Keetje Schouten-van Weset; website Joods Amsterdam/Borneokade; website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl and the archive of the Red Cross/transportlist Borneokade of 1 February 1943.