Rachel and Clarance Lissauer were the two unmarried daughters from the first marriage of Jesaja Lissauer and Dina Joseph Prijs. They were born in Amsterdam, on 29 August 1875 and 16 May 1878 respectively. Four more children were born from that first marriage, Sara in 1872, Celina in 1873, Jacob in 1874 Carolina in 1877, but they have died all young or very young, in 1897, 1905, 1874 and 1877 respectively.
Their mother, Dina Joseph Prijs died on 22 October 1882, after which their father remarried Recha Büttenwieser in October 1883. Rachel was then 7 years old and Clarance was 4 years old, but they had lived at Muiderstraat 8 already since May 1883. Their father also died in 1896, and their stepmother decided, after the birth and death of her youngest child Salomon in 1896, to move in August 1897 to Nieuwe Kerkstraat 101 ground floor and in May 1899 to the Nieuwe Prinsengracht 81 1st floor.
The almost 21-year-old Rachel had already left the parental home on 16 May 1896, which was even before Salomon's birth. She went to work in Arnhem as a housekeeper and seamstress in Beth Mikloth Lezikno, a home for Israelitic elderly people at Markt 5, and from March 1922 to January 1936 she worked as a housekeeper/seamstress in Utrecht at the Central Israelitic Orphanage on the Nieuwe Gracht. 92.
In January 1936, Rachel returned to Amsterdam and found living space at Oudeschans 32 with Salomon Duits, but on 1 June 1936 she moved into an own home at Gijsbrecht van Aemstelstraat 26, 2nd floor, where her younger sister Clarance also came to live.
Clarance, who had moved to Nieuwe Kerkstraat and Nieuwe Prinsengracht, left on 24 January 1912 for the Portuguese Israelitic Girls Orphanage Mazon Habanoth at Nieuwe Prinsengracht 17, where she went to work as a linen lady, who must also teach the children the art of mending, darning and meshing. She stayed there until early November 1927 and then moved into living space with Monnikendam at Gelderschekade 94.
Clarance, now working as a housekeeper, left for Haarlem, Kleine Houtweg 21, on 13 February 1931. She stayed there until December 1932. She returned to Amsterdam and found living space at Andrieszkade 8 with Ms. N. Engelschman, who was also involved in a festive meeting of Benous Jehoedoh, an association of Jewish young ladies. (source website Joods Amsterdam/straten/Andrieszkade- onlu Dutch language).
At the beginning of April 1933, Clarance went to Utrecht, lived there at (Pieter) Saenredamstraat 57 bis, where she stayed for two years and on 7 July 1935 she moved back to Amsterdam. She then ended up with Nathan Duits, where she found living space at Eemsstraat 58, 2nd floor, and then moved in with her sister Rachel on 2 June 1936, who had just moved into a house at Gijsbrecht van Aemstelstraat 26, 2nd floor.
There were no more moves from June 1936 onwards. The Gijsbrecht van Aemstelstraat also became their last known address in the Netherlands, because on 15 February 1943, 67-year-old Rachel and 64-year-old Clarance Lissauer were taken from the Panamakade in Amsterdam to Westerbork, where they ended up in barrack 69. On 23 February they were transported to Auschwitz and immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau upon arrival there on 26 February 1943.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, closed family registration cards/Jesja Lissauer and family; Population register Muiderstraat 8 Amsterdam/Lissauer family; family registration cards of Rachel and Clarance Lissauer; archive cards of Rachel and Clarance Lissauer; various Amsterdam residence cards like Eemsstraat 58 2nd floor and Oudeschans 32 upper house;; Website Joods Amsterdam/Nieuwe Prinsengracht 17; Personen database Gelders Archief/R. Lissauer – Markt 5 – Arnhem; Wikipedia website Centraal Israëlitisch Weeshuis Utrecht; archive of the Red Cross/transport lists of 15 February 1943 with Rachel and Clarance Lissauer; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Rachel and Clarance Lissauer; website Joods Amsterdam/deportations from the Rietlanden en de Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/transport 23 February 1943.