Meijer de Leeuw was a son of Moses de Leeuw and Beletje van Tijn. He was born on 1 April 1879 in Den Helder. He married the Roman Catholic Wilhelmina van de Graaf on 27 February 1908 in Amsterdam, who was born there on 27 February 1886, as a daughter of Cornelis van de Graaf and Engelina Johanna Maal. Meijer's wife however died shortly after the end of the war in Amsterdam on 23 July 1945. As far as is known, the De Leeuw-Van de Graaf couple had no children.
Meijer was a shopkeeper and dealer in used goods and therefore stayed in various places for his trade. He was born in Den Helder, but came to Amsterdam with his parents at the age of 18 in May 1897 and lived on the Nieuwe Prinsengracht. In the first years of his stay in Amsterdam, Meijer de Leeuw was registered as a merchant.
On 31 March 1919, he even left Amsterdam with his wife for London, but returned to Amsterdam on 10 October 1919 and then immediately went for Den Haag and lived there with his wife at Hagenstraat 148a. On 25 February 1926 they left Den Haag for Antwerp, but returned to Den Haag on 14 October 1929 and then lived at Rijswijkseplein 13.
On 29 November 1930, a move took place within the municipality of Den Haag to Nieuwe Molstraat 87. However, the De Leeuw-Van de Graaf couple left Den Haag again on 23 February 1932 and moved into a house in Amsterdam at Frans Halsstraat 11. From 5 February 1935 the couple lived at Ceintuurbaan 189hs in Amsterdam, where he had a store, selling used goods.
Meijer de Leeuw was registered with the Jewish Council at the time of the mandatory registration of all Jews in the Netherlands in 1941 and was arrested on 25 May 1943 and deported to Westerbork. There he ended up in barrack 65, which was then known as a penal barrack. It is not clear why he ended up in barrack 65; however, it is clear that, based on information from the Red Cross, he was released from the camp again on 30 July 1943 due to his mixed marriage. (source: Westerbork/Red Cross information).
On 3 September 1944, Meijer de Leeuw was deported with the very last transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz with a total of 1019 deportees. He appeared on the list “Nachtrag Häflinge Sammelschutzhaft”, a list of supplement of preventive group-custody prisoners and was therefore in the camp as a prisoner. The conclusion must be therefore, that Meijer de Leeuw between 30 July 1943 and 3 September 1944 again has been arrested and teken to Westerbork as a “penal case”
It is unclear where Meijer de Leeuw stayed after his release from Westerbork on 30 July 1943 and the moment of his deportation on 3 September 1944. And what happened to Meijer de Leeuw after his arrival in Auschwitz on 5 or 6 September 1944 is also unknown.
Ultimately, the Amsterdam court ruled by decision of 21 December 1945, after which the municipality of Amsterdam drew up a death certificate for Meijer de Leeuw on 12 January 1946, stating that he died in Auschwitz on 15 February 1945.
Sources include the Amsterdam City Archives, family registration cards of Moses de Leeuw and Cornelis van de Graaf; archive card of Meijer de Leeuw; Municipal Archives of Den Haag/family registration cards of Meijer de Leeuw; Regional Archives Alkmaar/Den Helder, Alkmaar Population Register with the De Leeuw family; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Meijer de Leeuw; Westerbork/Red Creoss info about the deportation on 3 September 1944 of Meijer de Leeuw; death certificate 10, drawn up 12 January 1946 in Amsterdam for Meijer de Leeuw with date of death 15 February 1945 in Auschwitz; death certificate no. 371, drawn up on 25 July 1945 in Amsterdam for Wilhelmina de Leeuw-van de Graaf; website ITS Arolson/list of deceased in Auschwitz concentration camp no. 3848 dated 27 May 1959 with Meijer de Leeuw; website openarchieven.nl; website wiewaswie.nl and website stenenarchief.nl.