Frederica Salomons, daughter of Meijer Salomons and Bloeme de Paauw. The Salomons family had moved with their children from Amsterdam to Hilversum on 28 May 1897, when Frederica was born 3 months later on 22 August 1897 in their new hometown of Hilversum. In Hilversum the family lived in the Langestraat 35 ground floor, but returned to Amsterdam in mid-August 1919 and then lived at Overtoom 447 upper house until the beginning of July 1928.
Frederica married Arnold van Praag, a son of Mozes van Praag and Grietje Fransman, on 29 November 1923 in Amsterdam. He was born in Amsterdam on 11 April 1893 and after the marriage was concluded, they moved into a house at Tilanusstraat 47, 1st floor, on 5 December 1923.
Two years later, on 16 June 1925, their son Max was born there. Frederica, Arnold and Max lived there until the end of June 1937 because on the 1st of July they moved to Reggestraat 20, 1st floor.
Arnold van Praag was a diamond cutter by profession and he received his training as a brilliant cutter from teacher Schelvis at the Boas Brothers factory and from teacher T. de Beer at the workshopf of Rudelsheim. Arnold completed his education on 17 January 1912, and then became a member of the ANDB and of the Jewish Trade Union Betsalel, which was founded in 1895 by Chief Rabbi Abraham Samson Onderwijs (Muiden, 1862 - Amsterdam, 1934). Arnold then still lived at home at Vrolikstraat 391 in Amsterdam East.
After the mandatory registration of all Jews in the Netherlands in 1941, their son Max got a job at the Jewish Council as an “errand boy out-of-school youth care” on 20 July 1942. As a result, he was exempted from deportation until further notice “because of function”. Max was well educated, had his 5-year commercial HBS diploma and his practical diploma shorthand. Before the war Max was employed as an office clerk.
Arnold van Praag, then living with his family at Reggestraat 20, 1st floor, was (temporarily) exempted from deportation on 15 July 1942, due to his trade as a diamond worker. But on 12 February 1943, the family was arrested and sent to the Vught concentration camp. Frederica, her husband Arnold and their son Max stayed there until 6 June. Frederica was registered there as a “masseuse” and Arnold as a diamond cutter and stayed there in barrack 37a.
On the night of 6 to 7 June 1943, they were transferred from Vught to Westerbork, where Arnold and Frederica ended up in barrack 62. They may have been added as escorts of the infamous “childrens transport”, which left from Vught to Westerbork on the night of 6 to 7 June. The next day, 8 June 1943, the transport eft Westerbork for Sobibor.
Max van Praag also arrived in Westerbork from Vught on 7 June but he managed to get back to Amsterdam from there. He was not part of the transport that left for Sobibor on 8 June 1943, but was ultimately arrested in Amsterdam on 7 December 1943, without wearing the yellow Jewstar and with a forged identity card. After his arrest, Max ended up in Auschwitz in January 1944 and in Buchenwald on 26 January 1945, where he died on 22 February 1945. (see also the biography of Max van Praag).
The children's transport of 8 June 1943, which included more than 3000 victims (of which 1051 were children up to 16 years old), and including Arnold van Praag and his wife Frederica Salomons, arrived in Sobibor on 11 June 1943. Upon arrival there, all men, women and children were immediately murdered in the gas chambers. There were no survivors.
Sources included the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Meijer Salomons (1863), Mozes van Praag (1866) and Arnold van Praag; archive cards of Frederica Salomons, Arnold van Praag and Max van Praag; website members ANDB/Arnold van Praag and IISG Archive ANDB; website Oorlogsbronnen/Arnold van Praag; Amsterdam residence cards/Overtoom 447 and Reggestraat 20 I; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Frederica van Praag-Salomons, Arnold van Praag and Max van Praag; website ITS Arolson/camp cards Vught of Arnold van Praag and Frederica van Praag-Salomons.