Emanuel van West was the eldest of the three children of Joseph van West and Gracia Rodrigues Pereira. He was born on 13 March 1907 in Amsterdam and was usually called Willem. He was employed as window dresser in the fashion shop of Maison de Vries in the Kalverstraat in Amsterdam.
Willem married on 20 June 1934 in Amsterdam Esther Blitz, who was usually called Elly. She was born on 3 March 1908 i…