Hijman van Praag, the son of Gerrit van Praag and Esther Oudkerk, was born in Den Helder on 5 October 1884 and he was a merchant by profession. On 19 April 1910 he married Elsje Oudkerk, a daughter of Emanuel Oudkerk and Jogeva Sloog, in Den Helder. Elsje was also born in Den Helder on 20 March 1883 and the couple lived at Spoorgracht 46.
The Van Praags soon moved to Keizersstraat 76 in Den Helder, where their first child was born on 8 June 1910, whom they named Gerrit. He was followed by Jogeva on 6 September 1913 and Emanuel on 19 January 1915, all born in Den Helder.
As early as 1939, Gerrit left for Rotterdam where he lived at Diergaardelaan 44a and on 24 February 1940 at Hoogstraat 379. On 15 January 1941, he moved to Velsen, lived there at various addresses and in April 1942 in Amsterdam at four different addresses. Gerrit survived the war, married a non-Jewish woman afterwards and lived at Zeeweg 287 in Velsen in October 1945. (read his biography).
On 24 August 1937, their daughter Jogeva married her first cousin Gerrit van Praag (also called Gerard). He was a son of Meijer van Praag and Sara Frank and born on 21 September 1909 in Den Helder. Their first son Martijn was born in November 1941 but died after just 4 days, but their daughter Sonja Elsje, born in November 1942, survived the Holocaust. (read their biography).
The youngest of Hijman van Praag and Elsje Oudkerk was Emanuel van Praag, born in 1915. He was unmarried and deported to Auschwitz at the age of 28, where, according to a decision of the Alkmaar District Court of 2 November 1950, he must have died in or in the vicinity of Auschwitz between 29 January 1943 and the capitulation of the German army in May 1945. His actual date of death is unknown. The Jewish Monument therefore lists it as May 1945. (read his biography).
In 1940, the children of Hijman and Elsje had already “left home”; Gerrit had lived elsewhere since 1939; Jogeva married in 1937 and Emanuel lived in Schagen. Hijman van Praag and Elsje Oudkerk were still living at Keizerstraat 76 in Den Helder, but at the beginning of August 1940 they left Den Helder for Velsen.
The cause of this move was, among other things, the so-called "German mistake bombing" of Den Helder on 14 May 1940, a few hours after the Dutch army had capitulated. Also the demolition of old neighborhoods for the construction of the Atlantikwal played a role, not to mention the 3½-hour nightly English bombardment of 24 to 25 June 1940, which resulted in almost 8000 residents fleeing Den Helder.
Within a year, on 4 April 1941, the family moved from Velsen again, this time to Emmastraat 49 in Alkmaar. And on 5 February 1942, the family had to comply with the German regulation that Jews had to move from the provinces to Amsterdam, for which three areas were designated: the Transvaal district in Amsterdam East, the River district in Amsterdam South, and the old Jewish Quarter in Amsterdam-Center, the Ghetto. The Hijman van Praag family then ended up at Merwerdeplein 45 II in the River district in Amsterdam South where they found living space with Jakob Levy and his wife.
After all Jews in the Netherlands were registered with the Jewish Council in 1941, Hijman van Praag got a job at the Council at the bread service at Nieuwe Keizersgracht 58, for which he was issued an I.D. with number JR-C1659. Hijman was not given a “Sperre”, an exempt from deportation, nor his wife Elsje.
A few days after Purim, on the night of March 24 to 25, 1943, Hijman van Praag and Elsje Oudkerk were arrested too and deported from Amsterdam to Westerbork, where they were registered on the 25th and ended up together in barrack 70.
In dr. J. Presser's book “Ondergang” (downfall) part I, in chapter “From the end of January to the end of March 1943”, on page 349, the period in March 1943 is described and reads: The Internal Information of 24 March (1943) informs that, if If it occurs, you can request a death certificate for those employed in Auschwitz. "This will take several weeks, but then you will have written proof that every authority will be satisfied with." Prepay fees and postage RM 0.85 by postal order. This was still considered information on 24 March 1943.
The night before, 250 people went to the Hollandse Schouwburg, during the day and at night a number of unstamped (not exempted) people went to the Zentralstelle. On 25 March the February report of 'Help to Departurers', including the provisions provided to collected persons: 9797 portions of breakfast, 11234 coffee meals, 12819 hot food, 25 porridge and 6150 packages of travel provisions. Pick-ups (collections of people) exactly as the previous day and night.
Hijman van Praag and Elsje van Praag-Oudkerk were in barrack 70 in Westerbork on 25 April 1943. On 26 March 1943, their son Gerrit van Praag informed his cousin Mr. Gerard Polak, lawyer and attorney, working for the Jewish Council Information Department at Lijnbaansgracht and a son of Hijman van Praag's sister Elsje van Praag and Jacob Polak, that “person involved nr. 2, (here meant Elsje van Praag-Oudkerk), was admitted to hospital.
Food vouchers were requested on 29 March after which the message came on 1 April from Mr. Gerard Polak: “send food parcels”. Food vouchers were issued on 1 April 1943, with the comment, that the necessary attention was paid to the medical side of the case.
Three weeks later, “the person concerned was cured” and on 20 April 1943 both Hijman and Elsje were deported to Sobibor, where upon arrival on 23 April 1943, Hijman van Praag and his wife Elsje van Praag-Oudkerk were murdered in the gas chambers of Sobibor.
Sources include the Regional Archive of Alkmaar/Den Helder/Population register/Hijman van Praag; the City Archive of Amsterdam, archive cards of Hijman van Praag and Elsje Oudkerk; Amsterdam residence card of Merwedeplein 45 2nd floor; Archives of the Red Cross/transportlist 24 March 1943, page 7 Amsterdam-Westerbork with no. 403 Hijman van Praag and no. 404 Elsje v Praag-Oudkerk; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Hijman van Praag and Elsje van Praag-Oudkerk and the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/transport 20 April 1943.