Isaak Hilversum, born in Amersfoort on 21 November 1905, was a son of Levie Hilversum and Branca Nabarro. He was born into a family with in total eleven children. One little brother and a little sister have died at a very young age and one sister survived the Holocaust. All other siblings and Isaak him self, as well both his parents, were killed in the Shoah.
Isaak married 20 June 1928 in Amsterdam to the 22-year old Sientje à Catan from Rotterdam, a daughter of Emanuel à Catan and Grietje Baske. The couple had three children, namely Levie in 1928, Greta in 1929 – she died already after 6 months – and Emanuel in 1942.
According a note on her registration card from the Jewish Council, on the 8th of April 1943, Sientje Hilversum-à Catan was still employed for the Jewish Council, department food preparation, however she was not exempted from deportation. Her spouse Isaak was registered in Westerbork already in October 1942 and deported to “the East. Sientje and both her children Emanuel and Levie were put on transport 1 June 1943 to Sobibor and on arrival there on 4 June 1943 immediately killed.
Isaak Hilversum however was already carried off to Westerbork 3 October 1942 from his home address Jodenbreestraat 53 2nd floor in Amsterdam. He was put on transport 30 October in the direction of Auschwitz. This transport, with in total 659 deportees, stopped in Kozel, were 200 boys and men between 15 and 50 years of age were forced to leave te train, to be employed in the surrounding satellite camps of Auschwitz. Those, who remained in the train were transported onwards to Auschwitz to be killed there.
Isaak Hilversum belonged to group of 200 men, who had to leave the train ik Kozel. Eventually he ended up in the forced labor camp Blechhammer, where he lost his life due to diseases and/or exhaustion on 11 October 1943. After the war, when this all was still unknown, the Dutch authorities has had a death certificate drawn up for Isaak Hilversum; in it his official date and place of death has been established as 31 July 1943 in Auschwitz.
Sources: City Archive of Amsterdam, archive cards of Isaak Hilversum and Levie Hilversum; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Isaak Hilversum, Sientje à Catan, Emanuel Hilversum and Levie Hilversum; website wikipedia.nl/list of Jew transports from the Netherlands and Edward Haduch, Panstwowe Muzeum, Auschwitz-Birkenau, protocol 6 maart 1946.