The eldest of the nine children of Salomon Duitz and Elisabeth Duizend was Louis, who was born on 1 January 1902 in The Hague. His father was head of a school there and during their stay in The Hague, Louis had another sister Alida in 1903 and another one, Louise, in 1904. Early August 1905, his parents returned to Amsterdam with Louis and his two sisters.
Between 6 and 10 June 1922, Louis was enlisted in the 2nd Regiment Fortress Artillery, 2nd Team I-B of the National Militia and was also assigned to the training course to become a non-commissioned officer. Afterwards he was sent on long leave several times: on 17 November 1922, on 28 August 1925, on 20 June 1928 but on 1 April 1933 he was transferred to the 2nd Field Artillery Regiment. At the time of his incorporation in the Militia, he lived at Plantage Doklaan 36 II in Amsterdam and earned his living already as a merchant and traveling salesman.
On 30 April 1934, Louis left for Groningen, where he initially lived at Gedempte Zuiderdiep 93a, where he stayed until 27 February 1936. Then he moved to Gedempte Zuiderdiep 130b and lived there until his marriage, as on 7 Ocober 1940, Louis Duitz married in Groningen Sedje Frank, a daughter of the photographer Hartog Samson Frank and Frouke Cohen.
After the marriage was concluded, the newly wed couple moved into a house in the middle of the Schildersbuurt (Painters District) of the city: Blekerstraat 19b. Their daughter Fouke Elisabeth was born there on 15 May 1942.
In June 1941, the compulsory registration of all Jews in the Netherlands revealed from entries on his registration card at the Jewish Council, that Louis used to run a wholesale trade in painting supplies, that he had successfully completed the 3-year HBS and also had his shorthand typing diplomas. He was described as a precise worker.
The data, as noted on the Jewish Council card of his wife Sedje Duitz-Frank, shows that, like her husband, she had passed the 3-year HBS, had her diploma had shorthand and typing, had taken her telephone service examination, a was a good 1st class telephone operator, was also a (lowest grade) religious teacher and, as an office clerk, was also familiar with light administrative work.
Louis Duitz was “gesperrt bis auf weiteres” (provisionally exempted from deportation) by the Jewish Council; he had been appointed as a Cultural Worker Field Service and as a Watcher, for which he was issued an I.D. with number JR A-628. Therefore, also his wife Sedje Frank was temporarily exempted from deportation until further notice.
Despite all this (Sperres, jobs at the Jewish Council), the Duitz-Frank family was carried off to Westerbork on 5 February 1943 and deported to Auschwitz on 9 February. This transport included a total of 1184 deportees and arrived in Auschwitz on 11/12 February 1943.
After the war, estimates from survivors of this transport indicated that approximately 100 to 200 boys and men between the ages of 16 and 40 were selected for employment. During the selection, immediately following arrival, all women, children and older men, as well as some younger men who did not choose to walk or who did wish to stay with their wives (and children), were loaded onto cars and taken to the gas chambers.
The above was also the fate of the Duitz family. 38-year-old Sedje Duitz-Frank, her 8-month-old baby daughter Frouke Elisabeth Duitz, and 41-year-old Louis Duitz were driven by car to the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau and immediately murderd there by gassing.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Salomon Duitz, the register National Militia; website openarchieven/marriage Louis Duitz x Sedje Frank; Groninger Archieven/family registration cards of Louis Duitz and residence cards Groningen of the Gedempte Zuiderdiep 93a, 130b and Bleekerstraat 19b; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Louis Duitz, Sedje Duitz-Frank and of Frouke Elisabeth Duitz; the archives of ther Red Cross, publication “Auschwitz IV” Deportation transports to Auschwitz in 1943, edited October 1953, Spring transports, pages 5, 21,23 and 34 till 37- the transport of 9 February 1943 and the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl.