The eldest son of Hijman Oudkerk and Elisabeth Rokkestikker, Meijer Oudkerk was a traveling salesman by profession. He married sales-woman Kaatje Polak on 15 December 1937 in Hilversum, who was born in Arnhem on 2 August 1908 as the daughter of Philipus Polak and Grietje Broers, but lived with her parents in Hilversum.
Meijer Oudkerk lived with his parents at Bilderdijkstraat 69, 1st floor, in Amsterdam-West, but five days after his marriage to Kaatje Polak was concluded, on 20 December 1937, they moved into living space at Allard Piersonstraat 13, 1st floor, a side street of Da Costakade. in Amsterdam-West. On 17 October 1939, Meijer and Kaatje moved to the Dintelstraat 10 ground floor in the River District of Amsterdam, which would also turn out to be their last known address in the Netherlands.
When the deportations started in mid-July 1942, many were called up for the so-called “Arbeitseinsatz”, and undoubtedly 33-year-old Meijer and his 34-year-old wife Kaatje were also among those called up. But the registration card of the Jewish Council of Meijer Oudkerk shows that he was exempt from this, according to list 3/21; Kaatje Polak was also exempted from this on 8 July 1942, but the exemption did not last long.
After they were again called up for the "labor service", both were taken from the “Zentralstelle” on the Adema van Scheltemaplein in Amsterdam to Westerbork on 7 August 1942 and deported to Auschwitz on 10 August. There after arrival they were confronted with the “labor service” in inhumane conditions. Many deportees died there from mis-treatment, hardship, diseases or were sent to the gas chambers in Auschwitz-Birkenau.
It is not known when and under what circumstances Meijer Oudkerk and his wife Kaatje Oudkerk-Polak lost their lives in Auschwitz. Research by the Red Cross has determined that since their arrival, they could no longer be alive after 30 September 1942. After the war, the Dutch Ministry of Justice adopted these conclusions and instructed the municipality of Amsterdam to draw up a death certificate for both of them, recording that Meijer Oudkerk and Kaatje Oudkerk-Polak died in Auschwitz on 30 September 1942.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Hijman Oudkerk (1879) and Philippus Polak (1878); archive cards of Meijer Oudkerk (1909), Kaatje Polak (1908) en Philippus Polak; Amsterdam residence cards of Allard Piersonstraat 13 I with Meijer Oudkerk and Niersstraat 14 g.fl./Philippus Polak; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Meijer Oudkerk and Kaatje Oudkerk-Polak; the archives of the Red Cross/transport list Amsterdam-Westerbork with Meijer Oudkerk and Kaatje Oudkerk-Polak of 7 August 1942, nrs 58 and 59; website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/ transport 10 Augustus 1942; the death certificate 174 from the A-register 44-folio 30v for Meijer Oudkerk and deed 193 from the A-register 44-folio 34 for Kaatje Oudkerk-Polak, both made out in Amsterdam on 27 July 1950.