Leo Blumenthal was a son of Jakob Blumenthal and Klara Karolina Hecht. He was born 26 February 1907 in Fulda (D) and he earned his money as a merchant in leather goods. It is not known how many siblings Leo had but it is certain that he had a brother Markus, who was born 22 May 1908 in Fulda and another brother Lothar Ludwig, who was born there in 1920.
Leo arrived in 1934 with his parents in Amsterdam, where he lived among others at Westeinde 11 parterre with his brother Markus and his family and on 10 November 1938 he moved to Watteaustraat 19 parterre in Amsterdam. One day earlier, on 9 November he was married to Betsie Ilse van Dam, who was born in Soest in Germany on 10 May 1914 as daughter of Maurits van Dam from Enschede, who was married to the German Betty Rosenthal from Hamm. Leo and Betsie Ilse had two sons, Marcel in 1939 and Harry in 1941, both born in Amsterdam.
On 10 July 1941 Leo’s brother Lothar Ludwig came living in with them. He was unmarried and up from January 1938 he had received a training for “life in Palestine” at the hachshara in Enschede which he has joined then. Before Lothar came living in with his brother Leo, he lived in at Haringvlietstraat 12 1st floor with his other brother Markus Blumenthal, who lived there already with his family since June 1937.
When deportations started in The Netherlands in July 1942, Leo Blumenthal and his family, as well his brother Lothar, were taken from Watteaustraat to Westerbork and deported to Auschwitz on 15 July 1942. This was the first transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz and contained 1135 deportees. The transport arrived in Auschwitz on 17 July; Leo’s wife Betsie Ilse van Dam and her sons Marcel and Harry were immediately murdered on arrival in Auschwitz on 17 July 1942.
Leo Blumenthal and his brother Lothar were selected "to work" and deployed as forced labourers in Auschwitz. Lothar Ludwig eventually lost his life there but an exact date of his death is unknown. Therefore, after the war, his death has been established as on 30 September 1942 in Auschwitz. However, Leo Blumental lost his life already on 19 August 1942 in Auschwitz.
Sources among others: City archive of Amsterdam, archive cards of Leo Blumenthal, Markus Blumenthal, Lothar Ludwig Blumental en Betsie Ilse van Dam; Residence cards Amsterdam Watteaustraat 19; website Wikipedia listing Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland and the file cabinet of the Jewisch Council, registration cards of Leo Blumenthal, Lothar Ludwig Blumental, Harry and Marcel Blumenthal and Betsie Ilse van Dam.