Lilly Davids, a daughter of Wolf Davids and Karoline Kahn, was born on 19 June 1919 in Arnhem. Her father, who died in Amsterdam on 10 August 1941, was a ladies' fashion retailer and commercial agent, moved on 10 October 1928 with his wife Karoline (survived the Holocaust by hiding), son Eduard Ernst (survived the war by fleeing to Switzerland) and daughter Lilly, from Enschede to Amsterdam, where they went living at Marnixstraat 417 in Amsterdam.
Lilly worked as a seamstress and later as a saleslady but also as a domestic aid, but when she was obliged to register with the Jewish Council in 1941, her occupation was recorded as ”maid”. On 19 July 1942, like so many others, she was called up for the so-called “Arbeitseinsatz” but was “set back” from deportation already on 20 July. Possibly, because according to notes on her registration card from the Jewish Council, she appears on the so-called Weinreb List II.
Besides that, Lilly was most likely also gone into hiding, and during that time she may also have met Jacob Oudkerk. It is not known whether this had to do with the fact that the aforementioned Weinreib List II was “platzed” (bursted) in January 1943 (Weinreb was greeted by the German Koch on 19 January 1943 with the ominous words: 'Jetzt ist das Theater aus!' (now the show is over) Everything was lost - Source website DBNL Weinreib page 105 – Dutch languate only), but Lilly and Jacob were brought into Westerbork together after arrest on 9 October 1943 and locked up in the penal barrack 67.
Meanwhile, Lilly Davids proved to be heavily pregnant and on 23 October 1943, in Westerbork she gave birth to a baby son, Ronald, who, however, died there on 4 November and was cremated on 12 November 1943. Lilly and Jacob were already engaged to be married and the announcement of their intended marriage, which was to take place in Westerbork on 24 December 1943, was announced in Westerbork on 27 November and in Amsterdam on 4 December. However, for unknown reasons their marriage did not take place.
On 8 February 1944, Lilly and Jacob were deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz. That transport included 1015 deportees, men, women and children, of which 24-year-old Lilly Davids was among a group of 117 women aged 15 to 40, of whom 37 “sick” women were gassed immediately upon arrival on 10 or 11 February 1943.
The remaining 80 women were “spared” and, due to a typhoid epidemic that had broken out, were quarantined for 6 weeks until after Passover, the Jewish Easter, which began on 8 April 1944 and lasted 8 days. During that period, only 3 women died. It has been then assumed that Passover ended on 13 April 1944, (which was actually on 15 April), which would then be the beginning date of the period in which Lilly's death may have occurred.
However, the exact date of death of Lilly Davids is not known, upon which it was determined by the Dutch Ministry of Justice after the war, also based on earlier investigations and conclusions of the Red Cross, that Lilly Davids could not have been alive after 30 April1944. Her death certificate was drawn up by the Municipality of Amsterdam, with the date and place of death being 30 April 1944 in the vicinity of Auschwitz.
Sources include the Stadsarchief Amsterdam, archive cards of Lilly Davids, Wolf Davids and Karoline Kahn; website DBNL pages 101-110/ “Ondergang” by Dr. J. Presser/Weinreb – only Dutch language; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Lilly Davids, Karoline (Lucie) Kahn and Jacob Oudkerk; website openarchieven.nl/drents archief/BS 1943/marriage certificate 127 dated 24 Dec.1943 for Jacob Oudkerk x Lilly Davids and the death certificate from Amsterdam for Lilly Davids from register A89-folio 92v/deed 545 of 6 December 1951.