Leendert Philip de Jong, a son of Abraham de Jong and Sara Pop, was born in Amsterdam on 14 July 1917. He was the second in the family of four children; his sister was Cara (1912); his brothers Philip Leendert (1914), Leendert Philip (1917) and Maurice (1925). Only Philip Leendert survived the Shoah, the others and their parents were all murdered during the Shoah.
Abraham de Jong, (Leendert Philips' father) was a diamond worker by profession, which is why he and his family went to Antwerp several times and earned his living there. The last address of the De Jong family was in the Deurne district at Van der Delftstraat 39. When they returned to Amsterdam in July 1934, they first lived at Blasiusstraat 67 2nd floor, before they moved to Krugerstraat 29 2nd level in the third week of December 1936.
Leendert Philip worked in the textile industry as a silk weaver; that was before he was called up for examination for the National Militia in April 1936. He was approved for the “cyclist infantry” and secondarily for the medical troops. On 23 March 1937, Leendert was conscripted into the Militia and assigned to the 7th Riding Infantry (2nd team) and stationed in Harskamp. However, on 4 September of that year he was already sent on long leave.
From 1939 onwards Leendert was very good friends with Sara Santilhano, who was usually called Lientje. She was described by her family as a charming girl, always dressed elegantly and fashionably and worked as a saleslady in a fashion store in the Kalverstraat in Amsterdam. Sara was born on 1 February 1922 as a daughter of Isaäc Santilhano and Betje Hartog. She had 4 sibs, namely: Elisabeth (1915), Jacob (1918), Clara (1928) and Alexander (1931) and lived with her family at 1e Sweelinckstraat 18 groundfloor in Amsterdam, where her father Isaäc, who was a mover by profession, had a storage shed behind his house.
The mobilization of the Dutch Army followed on 28 August 1939, during which Leendert also had to report to his unit again. It is not known where they were deployed during the first days of the war, but on 14 May 1940, one day before the official capitulation of the Dutch Army, Leendert Philip and his unit were taken prisoner of war. Fortunately, he was not taken into captivity. Not long after his fiancée Lientje (Sara Santilhano) and his mother were able to visit him on 17 May, he was released.
After Leendert was released from captivity in 1940, he was able to resume his work as a civil servant at the PTT (post office). However, as a result of the anti-Jewish measures taken by the occupying forces, he was fired from there in 1941. He was then sent in April 1942 to the Northern Dutch Landweer labor camp, located in Elsloo, just west of Appelscha. There he was also able to meet the Bult farming family, who occasionally gave him some food and where he could also pour out his heart.
His fiancée Lientje (Sara Santilhano) had now received a call to be assessed for the so-called “Arbeitseinsatz”. (the additional work in Germany under police surveilance). Together with her fiancé, they decided to quickly register and get married, even before they would be sent to the East. According to both their registration cards from the Jewish Council, Leendert Philip and Sara were called-up on 22 July 1942 to report for the “Arbeitseinsatz” but on the basis of their intended marriage, which was to take place in Amsterdam on 24 July 1942, the Jewish Council was requested and granted a postponement of deportation.
A renewed call-up followed on 27 July and according to the transport list of 28/29 July, both were taken that night as numbers 7418 and 7420 from Amsterdam Central Station with “Zug 1” at 2:16 am to Westerbork by train and from there on Friday, deported to Auschwitz on 31 July 1942, where they probably arrived on 3 August 1942.
From that moment on, there is no other information about Sara de Jong-Santilhano except that she appears on the transport list of the “Judentransport aus den Niederlanden - Lager Westerbork - Transport lists created in Westerbork”. It is not known whether Sara was then put to work and was killed somewhere between her arrival and her official date of death, or whether she was murdered immediately in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau after arrival on 3 August. The website “Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau” states the following in those cases:
Database of Dutch Jews of transports from Westerbork to Auschwitz include more than 46000 people in 51 separate transportlists. These convoys were arriving to Auschwitz-Birkenau since 15 July 1942 till 23 February 1943. The majority of the deportees were murdered in the gas chambers immediately after selection on the unloading ramp - we do not know their names. The rest were registered as a prisoners in the camp, but only a small group of them managed to survived and get back homes.
Sara's exact date of death is unknown. The Dutch authorities therefore determined after the war, partly on the basis of Red Cross research and testimonies from survivors, that Sara de Jong-Santilhano could no longer have been alive after 30 September 1942. Following orders from the Ministry of Justice, the Municipality of Amsterdam drew up a death certificate for her, which states that she died in Auschwitz on 30 September 1942.
More is known about Leendert Philip de Jong. The remaining administration of Auschwitz shows from the so-called Sterbebücher (the dead books) that Leendert Philip de Jong was murdered in Auschwitz on 17 September 1942. This means that he was selected for employment upon arrival in Auschwitz; he ended up in Monowitz, (also known as Auschwitz III, Arbeitslager Monowitz, Buna Lager and Konzentrationslager Monowitz). The conditions were inhumane and harsh and after more than 6 weeks Leendert Philip de Jong was transferred from there to Auschwitz I (Kasernestrasse) and, according to the death certificate from Auschwitz of 26 September 1942, killed on 17 September 1942, in the evening at 9:15 p.m.
After the war, the above was not yet known to the Dutch Authorities. Based on research by the Red Cross and witness statements from survivors, they then instructed the Municipality of Amsterdam to draw up a death certificate for Leendert Philip de Jong, which states that he died in Auschwitz on 30 September 1942.
Sources include the City Archive of Amterdam, framily registration cards of Abraham de Jong and Isaac Santilhano; archive cards of Sara Pop, Betje Hartog, Leendert Philip de Jong and Sara Santilhano; The Amsterdam Militia register with Leendert Philip de Jong; the Dossier of Foreigners of the City of Antwerp no. 154789 for Abraham de Jong and family; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Leendert Philip de Jong and Sara de Jong-Santilhano; the archive of the Red Cross, transportlist Amsterdam-Westerbork of 28/29 July 1942; the certificate of deathf no.172 for Leendert Philip de Jong, made out on 22 September 1950 in Amsterdam from the A-register 51-folio 30verso, death certificate 538 from the A-register 51-91 verso of 22 September 1950 for Sara de Jong-Santilhano and additional information of surving family.