Joseph Stodel was the only son of Hijman Stodel and Helena van Stratum. He was born in Amsterdam on 10 June 1906, when his parents still lived in the ‘s-Gravesandestraat but already shortly thereafter, on 10 November 1906 moved to Linneausparkweg 21 in Watergraafsmeer.
The marriage of his parents however did not last. It was officially dissolved on 28 August 1914 by verdict of the District Court in Amsterdam. His father had already left for Amsterdam in December 1911 while he and his mother did not follow until March 1912. They went to live with his mother’s parents and other relatives at Wijttenbachstraat 35 3rd floor in Amsterdam-East and Joseph too went along.
His father, Hijman Stodel left Amsterdam for Den Haag and married there the non-Jewish Cathatrina Christina Boekhout on 21 February 1919. Since 1 May 1920 his father officially lived with his second spouse at Witte de Withstraat 14 in Den Haag, and on 1 June 1920 the then 16-year old Joseph Stodel moved to Den Haag too, to live with his father. On 2 September 1921, Joseph’s half-brother Henri Stodel was born an on 1 June 1926 his father, his new family and Joseph moved to Rijswijk, where his father even before the war, on 19 Ocober 1939 passed away.
Meantime Joseph Stodel has become a sales representative and he married on 30 August 1933 in Rijswijk the non-Jewish Arendje de Weert, a daughter of Hendrik de Weert and Arendje Zomerdijk; she was born in Amsterdam on 3 April 1904. After their wedding, Joseph and Arendje lived in the Verhagen Metmanstraat 102 in Rijswijk. On 23 June 1938 they moved to Juliana van Stolberglaan 135 in Den Haag and on 15 June 1939 to Laan van Nieuw Oost Indië 72.
However, Joseph’s marriage with Arendje did not last either; after the verdict of the Court of 27 June 1940, the marriage was officially dissolved on 9 October 1940 in Den Haag. As far as could be ascertained, Joseph and Arendje had no children.
After being divorced, Joseph Stodel moved to the Amalia van Solmsstraat 45 in Den Haag and was also registered at this address during the mandatory registration of the Jews in the Netherlands. It is not impossible that Joseph has made attempts to go into hiding, which has failed; on 4 May 1944 Joseph Stodel was arrested and carried off to Westerbork, where he ended up in the penal barrack 67.
On 19 May 1944, Joseph was put on transport as a so-called “penal case” with another 452 deporteed. The depart of this transport has been captured in the “Westerbork movie. Also 245 Roma were added to this transport and in Assen the train was coupled with 507 deportees of the 25th transport from Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen.
On 21 May 1944 the transport arrived in Auschwitz and most likely Joseph Stodel has been put to work in one of the “Arbeitskommando’s” – labour commands - in the Auschwitz-complex. When the Russian Army is approaching from the east, prisoners who are still fit for work are transported to other concentration camps and/or labour commands via so-called evacuation transports. In January 1945, there were a number of those evacuation-transports, of which in January 1945 such a transport from concentration camp Auschwitz I, Auschwitz III (Monowitz), the Labour Command Birkenau, the Kanada Command and the Buna Command left for Dachau.
The prisoners had to walk to Gleiwitz, via Gross Rosen and ± 20 January 1945 onwards by train from Gleiwitz. Arrival of this transport or what remained of it in Dachau was ± 28 January 1945. A note on Joseph Stodel's registration card from the Jewish Council by a witness, Mr. M. de Vries of Insulindeweg 28 in Amsterdam, says that Joseph Stodel has died of exhaustion during the transport from Auschwitz to Dachau.
After the war, the Dutch Ministry of Justice ordered the Municipality of Den Haag to draw up a certificate of death for Joseph Stodel, stating that he has died in Mid-Europe on 28 January 1945.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, closed family registration cards of Hijman Stodel, Helena van Stratum, Joseph Stodel and Arendje de Weert; the Municipal Archive of Den Haag, family registration cards of Hijman Stodel and of Joseph Stodel; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Joseph Stodel; the wikipedia website jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl; the publication Auschwitz part VI by the Dutch Red Cross, the evacuation transports from Auschwitz and surroundings to the North and the West/page 16, edited in March 1952 (Dutch language only); the certificate of death for Joseph Stodel, made out in Den Haga on 2 May 1952 nr. C456 and an addition of a visitor of the website.