Mietje Prins was a daughter of Meijer Prins and his first wife Sara Mok, who passed away in Amsterdam on 20 April 1908, aged 34 years. Mietje was born on 23 September 1898 and she had another 4 sisters, namely Schoontje, Kaatje, Klara and Elsje.
After the passing of her mother in April 1908, her father married again three months later to Jansje Hont. Mietje then had another halfsister Rebecca and a halfbrother Mozes. However, Jansje Hont passed already four years later: she died on 10 August 1912, aged 41.
Then Mietje’s father married a third time in November 1915, now to Rebecca van Weren. From this marriage no more children were born. Mietje’s father passed away in Amsterdam on 25 January 1941 and his widow, Roosje van Weren was murdered in Sobibor on 4 June 1943.
Mietje Prins self married 3 March 1920 to Philip Koperberg, who was born on 9 January 1900 as a son of Levie Koperberg and Rebeca Sanders. From is marriage their only child and daughter Selien was born on 21 September 1921. The Koperberg family lived at Ingogostraat 6 2nd floor in the Transvaal district of Amsterdam-East.
Their 19-year old daughter Selien married on 2 July 1941 the 21-year old Hijman Waas, a son of Salomon Waas and Debora Delden. On 24 January 1943 their son Paul was born, who has survived the Holocaust, together with his mother. In August 1946 she remarried in Amsterdam and in 1954 she emigrated to Sydney with her husband and son Paul.
Hijman lost his life in Mauthausen (officially at the end of December 1942) but according to the death certificate made out in Mauthausen, on 15 January 1943 and he never attended the birth of his son.
At the other hand, Mietje Koperberg-Prins certainly attended the wedding of her daughter Selien in July 1941 and probably knew that she would become a grandmother. But she too never saw her grandson as the 43-year old Mietje was already deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz on 7 August 1942 and immediately murdered in the gas chambers on arrival there on 10 August 1942.
Short notes on the Jewish Council registration card of her husband Philip Koperberg, made after the war, show that he went into hiding as appeared after the war when he turned up, that he was remarried in 1947 and lived at Stadionweg 99 in 1948. There already on 3 August 1945 his daughter Selien Koperberg and her little son Paul came living in.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsaterdam, family registration cards of Meijer Prins, archive cards of Meijer Prins, Mietje Prins and Roosje van Weren; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Philip Koperberg and Mietje Koperberg-Prins; website open archieven and the Wikipedia website jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl.