Selma Hemelrijk, the daughter of merchant Hijman Benjamin Hemelrijk and Esther Sophia Strauss, was born on 16 July 1886 in Seppenrade in Germany. She lived with her parents in Winterswijk, from where she went to work in the housekeeping at the Dutch Israelite Old Men and Women Hospital in Kerkstraat 135 in Amsterdam on 3 February 1914. Halfway through October 1914 she returned to Wooldstraat 40 in Winterswijk to her parents.
On 6 April 1916 Selma arrived in Amsterdam again, after she had married Levie Oudkerk (usually called Louis) on 30 March 1916 in Winterswijk. Louis was a son of Gerrit Oudkerk and Henriette Jacobson and was born on 7 August 1878 in Amsterdam. Louis was a merchant in manufactured goods and fashion articles.
After the marriage, the Oudkerk couple lived for a long time at Singel 87 in Amsterdam and only moved to Heerengracht 94 in March 1926. Selma and Levie Oudkerk had three children, namely Gerrit in 1917, Sophie in 1918 and Hijman in 1920, of whom Sophie survived the Holocaust, Gerrit left for New York before the war in 1939 and Hijman was murdered during the Shoah.
Possibly during a business stay in Maastricht, Levie (Louis) Oudkerk died there on 30 May 1933 and was interred on 2 June of that year at the Jewish Cemetery in Muiderberg. One of the Amsterdam address books from the 1930s showed that NV Mode Engroshandel v/h Louis Oudkerk was now located at Heerengracht 94.
On 22 January 1936, a certain Max Bernstein arrived from Berlin in Amsterdam, who found shelter at Herengracht 94 ground floor with the widow of Levie (Louis) Oudkerk, Selma Hemelrijk. Max was a wholesaler in fashion articles by profession, which apparently fitted in well with the activities of the NV Mode Engroshandel v/h Louis Oudkerk. He was born on 25 July 1895 in Hameln (Germany) as the son of Kusel Bernstein and Emma Stern.
On 21 August 1937, Selma Hemelrijk married Max Bernstein in a second marriage and the three Oudkerk children were then registered again at the address Heerengracht 94, where the newly wed Bernstein couple also continued to live.
After the compulsory registration of all Jews in the Netherlands had started in the first month of 1941, Max Bernstein reported at the Warmoesstraat police station on 11 April 1941 at a quarter to six (5.45 p.m.) a theft, after which the following report was drawn up:
Max Bernstein, aged 46, wholesaler in fashion articles, on behalf of Louis Oudkerk Company, Heerengracht 94, 1st floor here, that on 11 April 1941 his coconut scraper worth approximately F. 5.00 was stolen from the corridor of the aforementioned property. No suspicion. (Source: City Archives Amsterdam, Max Bernstein/police reports 40-45/report 101, Warmoesstraat district office).
On 11 March 1943, Selma Bernstein-Hemelrijk was arrested and taken to Westerbork. She ended up in barrack 63. It is not possible to determine exactly when her husband Max Bernstein was arrested and ended up in Westerbork; the date stamp of his arrival there on his handwritten registration card from Westerbork is so distorted that it is (unfortunately) illegible. What is certain is that Max Bernstein had to await his deportation in Westerbork in barrack 65.
That took place on 25 May 1943 to Sobibor. Both appear on the transport list of 25 May 1943 as published in the book “Extermination Camp Sobibor” by Jules Schelvis, published in 1994 by the Bataafse Leeuw. The transport included a total of 2862 victims who were all gassed in the gas chambers of Sobibor immediately upon arrival on 28 May 1943, including the 47-year-old Max Bernstein and his 56-year-old wife Selma Bernstein Hemelrijk. No survivors……
Sources include the Amsterdam City Archives, family registration cards of Levie Oudkerk (1878-1933) and Max Bernstein (1895); archive cards of Selma Hemelrijk (1886) and Max Bernstein; Special Registers Amsterdam Service Personnel Dutch Isr. O.M. and W. Hosepital at Kerkstraat 135/Selma Hemelrijk; marriage certificate 21 from Winterswijk for Selma Hemelrijk x Levie Oudkerk (Louis); death certificate Amsterdam for Louis Oudkerk 1933 reg. 5-100v; Website stenenarchief.nl/ record 29394 Levie Oudkerk; Residence card Heerengracht 94 Amsterdam with Max Bernstein; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Max Bernstein and Selma Bernstein-Hemelrijk and the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/transport 25 May 1943.