Rachel Sanders-Polak was a daughter of Eliazer David Polak and Annaatje Plotske. She was born in Amsterdam on 2 November 1871 in a family of four children, namely: Elisabeth, Marianne, Mozes and Rachel herself.
Rachel married Annaatje van der Molen's widower, Joseph Sanders, on 5 March 1903, who was born on 28 January 1844, but died on 27 May 1908. Five years before his death, Joseph Sanders remarried on 5 May 1903 in Amsterdam to Rachel Polak, as mentioned, a daughter of Eliazer David Polak and Annaatje Plotske.
Joseph Sanders had thirteen children from his first marriage, namely: Eva, Philip, Rachel, Hartog, Joel, Aaron, Henriette, Meijer Sientje, Gerrit, Rosaline, Duifje and David. After the death of their mother Annaatje van der Molen in 1900, the older and unmarried sister Henriette Sanders took over the care of Sientje, Gerrit, Duifje and David; they were credited to Henriette until they left independently and Henriette first left for her brother Aaron in 1917 and then to Antwerp in 1919.
Of Rachel Sanders-Polak's other stepchildren, five children died before the war, three children left for London and/or elsewhere at a young age and three children survived the war. Two children died in wartime and are mentioned on the Jewish Monument, i.e. Eva and Gerrit.
From the marriage of Rachel Polak and Joseph Sanders, a son was born on 13 May 1904, named Albert Sanders. However, Rachel had previously also had two (natural) children, whom she herself recognized and legalized them as hers: Carl Polak on 11 June 1896 and Anna Polak on 27 March 1899. The father or fathers of them are not known.
Rachel Sanders-Polak was registered with the Jewish Council in early 1941, as all Jews in the Netherlands were obliged to do by the Germans. She was then registered at the address Plantage Badlaan 17. The Jewish Council granted her a “Sperre”, an exemption from deportation “bis auf weiteres”: she was the “mother-in-law of Dr. Emanuel Benjamin Asscher”. He was born in 1891 and married to Rachel Polak's natural daughter, Anna Polak, who was born on 27 March 1899. Rachel’s Sperre Number was 96342, which lies between the number series of 80000 and 100000, and these were the actual Jewish Council Stamps. (source “Ondergang” part I by Dr. J. Presser, edited 1965, from page 287 and further – Dutch language only).
Rachel's husband Joseph Sanders probably died at the address Lijnbaansgracht 2 ground floor in Amsterdam, where they had moved on 7 March 1908. After the death of her husband, Rachel Polak moved to Nieuwe Achtergracht 35, 1st floor, on 1 June 1908. From that date until her deportation, it turned out that Rachel Sanders Polak had lived at least at 30 different addresses in Amsterdam.
After registering with the Jewish Council in February 1941, Rachel Sanders-Polak moved to the following addresses: Amstel 262 ground floor, Nieuwe Keizersgracht 50 ground floor, Sarphatistraat 140 1st floor/(Muiderschans), and Plantage Badlaan 19 1st floor, from where she was taken away and deported to Auschwitz via Westerbork on 16 February 1943.
The transport of 16 February 1943 included 1108 deportees, 515 men and 593 women, of which one woman survived the Holocaust. It consisted mainly of older, sick and weak-looking men, children plus 592 women, including Rachel Sanders-Polak. They all were taken directly to the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau to be murdered there after arrival in Auschwitz on 19 February 1943.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Joseph Sanders (1844), Henriette Sanders (1875) and Albert Sanders (1904); archive cards of Rachel Polak and Albert Sanders; various residence cards of Amsterdam with Rachel Sanders-Polak; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards Rachel Sanders-Pola, Emanuel Benjamin Asscher and Anna Asscher-Polak; the archive of the Red Cross, Publication Auschwitz IV edited October 1953, the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/transport 16 February 1943 and an addition of a visitor of the website.