Isaac Soep, a son of Barend Soep and Grietje de Jong, was born in Amsterdam on 17 June 1897 and he earned his money as peddler with fruit and as a dealer in rags. Isaac was born into a family with five children: he had three other brothers: Mozes, Michel and Samuel and one sister Betje. Both his parents were born in 1863 but passed away already before the war.
On 18 December 1918 Isaac Soep married in Amsterdam Klaartje Bloemist, a daughter of Isaac Bloemist and Saartje Kijl, born on 22 November 1897 in Amsterdam. Klaartje had three other brothers: Herman, who was murdered in Sobibor, Barend, who died in Amsterdam a few months after the outbroke of the war and Jacob, who passed away already before the war.
After Isaac and Klaartje were married in 1918, they lived in the Foeliedwarsstraat 35. They then moved to Valkenburgerstraat, to the Moddermolensteeg and another four more addresses, before they came to live eventually in the Lepelstraat: in 1937 at nr. 13 and in 1938 at nr. 95 2nd floor. Isaac and Klaartje had two children, namely Greta in 1919 who got married to Hijman Bierman and in 1924 their son Barend was born, who remained unmarried.
Klaartje was working then as a raincoat sticker at the N.V. Regenkledingfabriek RERA in Amsterdam. On 8 January 1942 it was mentioned in the paper Haarlems Dagblad that the N.V. RERA had contributed Dfl. 500,-- for the “winterhulp” and the post further stated that in the week of 22 to 27 December 1941 one had received a total amount of Dfl. 68781,56 for it.
The “Stichting Winterhulp Nederland” (Foundation Winterhelp Netherlands) was a national socialistic organization and had the objective “it is the task of the Foundation to provide help and support to the needy Dutch citizens living in the occupied Dutch territory without regard to persons”. The support consisted of vouchers and goods such as food, clothing etc. Initially, Jews also received support but that help soon stopped.....
On 20 March 1942 Isaac Soep and his wife Klaartje Bloemist were arrested and carried off to Westerbork, where they ended up in barrack 70. On the basis of the activities of Klaartje at the N.V. RERA and the connection RERA – Winterhulp, attempts have been made to obtain an exemption of deportation but on 26 March 1943 it appeared, as stated on Isaac Soep’s registration card of the Jewish Council, “that further steps were useless”.
Because already on 23 March 1943, Isaac and Klaartje were put on transport to Sobibor, where upon arrival there on 26 March 1943 they immediately were murdered in the gas chamber.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Isaac Soep, archive cards of Isaac Soep and Klaartje Bloemist; the paper Haarlems Dagblad of 8 January 1942/N.V. RERA and the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Isaac Soep and Klaartje Soep-Bloemist.