Elisabeth van Praag was the 2nd child of Wolf van Praag and Marianne Koopman and she was born in Amsterdam on 1 May 1886 into a family where a total of 9 children were born. Elisabeth was the 2nd; her older sister Rebecca was born on 1 September 1884 but has been murdered in Auschwitz on 1 February 1943.
Her other younger sibs, who were murdered during the Holocaust, with or without their families were Isaäc, born 16 July 1891, murdered in Auschwitz on 15 December 1942; Naphtali, born on 16 September 1893 and murdered in Auschwitz on 30 September 1942 and Emanuël, born 8 October 1899, who was killed in the gas chambers of Sobibor on 16 July 1943.
Then there has been another Isaac, born on 26 March 1888 but he died as a baby, only 6 months old. Also another Emanuel, born on 15 May 1895 died as a baby of 6 months old. But Hartog, born 17 August 1889 survived the Holocaust and passed away in 1967. Also Rachel, who was born on 26 December 1896 survived the war due to her mixed marriage to Gerrit Jimme Brouwer from Appelscha.
Elisabeth van Praag started her working life as a seamstress at a fashion atelier. When she was 30 years old, she married her 15-year older uncle Abraham Koopman on 6 July 1916. He was born on 8 July 1870 in Amsterdam. Elisabeth and Abraham lived in Hilversum and they had no children. Abraham was the brother of Marianne Koopman, who was married to Wolf van Praag. However, the marriage of Elisabeth and Abraham did not last and on 20 January 1933 the marriage has been dissolved in Amsterdam. Abraham Koopman in the end was murdered in Auschwitz on 5 February 1943.
After her divorce, Elisabeth moved from Hilversum to Amsterdam on 15 October 1935, where she found living space with her brother Isaäc, who lived with his wife Sara Coe at Scheldestraat 8, and where they ran a branch of the butter- and cheese trade of Messrs M.L. de Lange. She became a housekeeper and lived at various addresses in the city: on 28 February 1936 she moved to Kalverstraat 123 and on 19 May 1937 to Noorder Amstellaan 72 ground floor, where she found a home with the 18-years older widower Salomon Kan from Meppel.
Elisabeth van Praag may have made attempts to escape deportation. However, she was finally arrested on 5 May 1944 from her last known address Noorder Amstellaan 72 and carried off to Westerbork. There she was locked up in the penal barrack 67. On 19 May 1944 she was deported to Auschwitz where she has been immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau upon arrival there on 22 May 1944.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Wolf van Praag (1858), Abraham Koopman, Elisabeth van Praag and Philip Hartlooper; archive cards of Elisabeth van Praag, Abraham Koopman and Salomon Kan; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Abraham Koopman and Elisabeth van Praag and the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/19 May 1944.