Maurits Swaan was a son of Eliazer Swaan and Bertha Penha. He was born in Scheveningen on 21 February 1919, but moved with his parents, brother Nathan and sister Rebecca to Somerstraat 11 in Antwerp on 5 September 1919.
However, already after ± 2 months after the opening of Beth Azarja in Hilversum on 2 November 1925, Maurits was transferred to there in January 1926. This home, property of the S.A. Rudelsheim Foundation at the Verdilaan 10 in Hilversum, was meant for care and primary education of mentally retarded Jewish children. However, on 7 April 1943 al the children of the Rudelsheim Foundation were taken by the Germans and carried off to concentration camps in Eastern Europe.
The registration card from the file cabinet of the Jewish Council shows that Maurits Swaan was “moved” on 22 February 1940 to the Central Israëlitic Psychiatric Hospital “Het Apeldoornsche Bosch” in Apeldoorn. Maurits then was exactly 21 years and 1 day old. This institution however was emptied by the Germans in the night of 21 to 22 January 1943 and children and staff were all put on transport to Auschwitz. On arrival there on 25 January 1943, they were all, including Maurits Swaan, immediately killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Sources include the Municipal Archive of Den Haag, family registration card of Eliazer Swaan; the Dossier of Foreigners of the City of Antwerp, no. 142034 images 499-519; website albertperk.nl/Jewish extraordinairily education/ S.A. Rudelsheim Foundation; website Joodsamsterdam.nl/S.A. Rudelsheim Stichting; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Maurits Swaan and the certificate of death no. 317 dated 18 April 1951, made out in Hilversum for Maurits Swaan.