Levie van Kollem was a son of Eleazar van Kollem and Naatje Philip Kater and was born in Amsterdam on 18 October 1884. He became a diamond trader and was a member of the Bourse of Diamond Trade (Beurs van Diamanthandel) on the Weesperplein in Amsterdam. He married Jeannette Michel on 30 January 1908, a daughter of Friedrich Michel and Lena Reiwit. Jeannette was born in Amsterdam on 6 March 1889 and lived at home at Koestraat 13 until her marriage. Levie also lived at home with his parents until his marriage, but then moved with his bride to a house at Zwanenburgwal 47 2nd floor.
This was followed by four more moves, until Levie van Kollem settled on 24 February 1921 with his wife and now six children (all born in Amsterdam) in the independent municipality of Watergraafsmeer. They moved into a house at Linneausparkweg 25 1st floor. After living there for more than 10 years, the family moved on 13 August 1932 to the Ruyschstraat 37 upper house in Amsterdam-East.
The eldest was Eleazar van Kollem, born on 18 April 1908. He became a warehouse clerk, was already registered in Westerbork on 20 July 1942 and deported to Auschwitz on 24 July. His actual date of death is unknown, but after the war, legally established by the Dutch Ministry of Justice on 30 September 1942 in Auschwitz.
Then there was Salomon Aaron van Kollem, who was born on 2 November 1909. In the spring of 1942 he was called up to report to one of the Jewish labor camps. From such a labor camp he voluntarily reported in Westerbork and was deported to Auschwitz on 17 August 1942. His actual date of death appeared to be 3 September 1942, according to the so-called “Sterbebücher” (death records) of Auschwitz. After the war, the Ministry of Justice legally determined his death on 30 September 1942.
Together with his brother Salomon Aron, Philip van Kollem was carried off to Westerbork on 20 July 1942. Philip was the fifth child in the Van Kollem family, born on 3 January 1914 and he was a traveling salesman. Philip and his brother were simultaneously deported to Auschwitz, where, according to the now available "Sterbebücher" of Auschwitz, Philip was already murdered on 20 August 1942. But after the war, the Ministry of Justice also set Philip van Kollem's legal date of death on 30 September 1942.
The third child was a girl, Naatje van Kollem, who was born on 2 February 1912. Together with her mother, she was taken to Westerbork in the night of 27 to 28 January 1943 and on 9 February, together with her mother Jeannette van Kollem-Michel, deported to Auschwitz. Upon arrival there on 12 February 1943, both were immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The youngest child was also a girl, Heintje van Kollem, who was born on 21 December 1916. She became a shop assistant. On 6 July 1943, Heintje was taken to Westerbork and stayed there in barrack 57, until she was transported to Sobibor on 13 July 1943. The deportation train contained almost 2000 victims, who were murdered in the gas chambers immediately upon arrival, including Heintje van Kollem.
The fourth child in the family was Jacob van Kollem, who was born on 3 January 1913. He attended 7 grades of primary school. From 5 December 1928 he learned the trade of polishing rose diamonds with H. Hazebos in the workshop “De Concentratie I” at Plantage Middenlaan 14-16 in Amsterdam. Jacob was rather sickly, and partly because of this, and because of brother service, Jacob was rejected for the National Militia on 1 March 1932. At the end of that year, on 28 December 1932, Jacob van Kollem was admitted as a patient to the Dutch Israelitic Psychatric Hospital "Het Apeldoornsche Bosch", where he eventually fell victim to the evacuation of that institution on 21/22 January 1943 by the Germans. After deportation to Auschwitz he was murdered there on 25 January 1943.
Jeannette van Kollem-Michel was deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz on 9 February 1943, together with her daughter Naatje, and murdered in the gas chambers there on arrival on 12 February 1943.
Levie van Kollem ended up in Westerbork on 4 March 1943, where he was housed in barrack 65. On 10 March he was deported to Sobibor in the 2nd transport from Westerbork. Among the victims were also orphans from the Jewish Orphanage in The Hague. Upon arrival in Sobibor, also Levie van Kollem was murdered on 13 March 1943 in the gas chambers.
Hardly anyone survived the deportations to Sobibor. Of the total of 34313 deportees, only 18 returned after the war. The transport of 10 March 1943, which left Westerbork with 1105 Jews, can be called special in retrospect for two reasons. Firstly because this was the last transport from Westerbork to Sobibor for which a passenger train was used. Cattle- or freight cars were invariably used for the seventeen subsequent transports. A second reason why the transport of 10 March 1943 was special was the number of survivors. Thirteen of the occupants would survive the war, all women. (Source: website Stichting Sobibor/transport 2).
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Eleazar van Kollem (1862), Friedrich Michel (1860) and Levie van Kollem (1884); archive cards of Levie van Kollem, Jeannette Michel and of the children Eleazar, Salomon Aaron, Naatje, Philip, Heintje and Jacob van Kollem; apprentice ANDB membership card of Jacob van Kollem; Peoples Regostru of Watergraafsmeer/family registration card of Levie van Kollem; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Levie van Kollem, Jeannette van Kollem-Michel and of the children Eleazar, Salomon Aaron, Naatje, Jacob, Philip and Heintje van Kollem; the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl and the Stichting Sobibor (Sobibor Foundation)/Transport 2.