Hijman Polak, born 10 July 1881 in Amsterdam, was a son of Barend Polak and Klara Vos. He married Henriëtte Swalef in Amsterdam on 21 December 1910, a daughter of Zacharias Swalef and Elisabeth Sarlie. As far as could be researched, Hijman and Henriëtte had no offspring.
Hijman Polak was a herring vendor and lived before his marriage at Rapenburgerstraat 44. After his marriage in 1910 he and Henriëtte Swalef lived only short together in the Korte Houtstraat 20 2nd floor as at some point Henriette has been unsubscribed from this address and went living somewhere else. Hijman has lived afterwards at even thirteen different addresses, alone – presumably mostly as lodger; his last known address was Rapenburgerstraat 87 1st floor.
It is not known, when Hijman Polak was taken from Rapenburgerstraat to Westerbork. In the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, no registration card of him was found but most likely he was deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz on 18 September 1942. This transport contained 1004 deportees, of whom in Kozel, ±80 km west from Auschwitz, 200 men between 15 and 50 years had to leave the train to be deployed as forced labourers in the surrounding labor camps of Auschwitz.
Hijman Polak then was already 61 years of age and together with the other deportees, who remained in the train, transported onwards to Auschwitz to be killed there. According to his certificate of death, made out after the war by the Municipality of Amsterdam on orders of the Ministry of Justice, Hijman Polak has died in Auschwitz on 21 September 1942.
Also Henriëtte Swalef has lived separately from her husband and lived in at more than eight different addresses. An official document of a divorce was not found in the archives. Her last known address was Spuistraat 285 1st floor in Amsterdam, where she came living in the years after 1936. Of Henriëtte Swalef a registration card was found in the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, on which was marked: “N.R. – Nicht Registriert = Not Registered”, and that she has been put on transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz on 2 October 1942. On arrival there on 5 October 1942, Henriëtte Swalef, spouse of Hijman Polak, was immediately killed.
Sources including City Archive of Amsterdam, archive cards of Hijman Polak and Henrëtte Swalef, family registration card of Hijman Polak, various residence cards; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Henriëtte Swalef; Wikipedia list of Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland; certificate of death for Hijman Polak, Register A54-folio 54 – deed 410 dated 13 October 1950 and for Henriëtte Swalef, Register A79-folio 56verso – deed 328 of 22 June 1951, both made out by the Municipality of Amsterdam o.o.o. the Ministry of Justice.