Naatje van West was the youngest and unmarried daughter of David van West and Keetje Cohen. She was born in Amsterdam on 30 January 1908 and worked as a lingerie seamstress. Naatje was part of the Van West family that consisted of father, mother and twelve siblings. Of them Emanuel, Mietje, Jansje, Flora and Barend died young. Flora and Barend did’nt even live to be half a year old. The others had died already before their 18th birthday.
Then there were also sibs who, with or without their families, died during the Holocaust, such as Willem, who was murdered on 9 November 1942 aged 55 years; and Hijman, who was murdered on 26 October 1942 aged 52 years; and Sara, 49 years, who was killed on 29 August 1942; such as Jacob, who lost his life on 10 February 1945 in Buchenwald; and Marcus, who died in Mid-Europe on 31 January 1943 and Emanuel, who lost his life on 31 March 1944. Except for Jacob and Marcus, everyone else was murdered in Auschwitz. Naatje died in her domicile Antwerp on 10 February 1941.
Naatje’s father, David van West, passed away on 24 February 1931 in Amsterdam and was interred in the Jewish Cemetery in Diemen. He was 67 years old. Keetje Cohen, Naatje’s mom and spouse of David van West, died earlier at the age of almost 67 years too, in Deurne in Belgium on 10 June 1929.
After the passing of her mother, Naatje left Deurne for Amsterdam on 24 Augustus 1929 where she went living in with her brother Willem van West, who lived at Vrolikstraat 220 with his wife Rosette Kloot and son David van West. On 10 November 1931 she moved to Rotterdam, where she found living space at Vriendenlaan 16, located near the current City Archive of Rotterdam.
A few months later, on 15 January 1932, she left for Amsterdam again and she lived in for about five months with Vrouwtje Worms-Cohen at Tugelaweg 49 1st floor in Amsterdam-East, the widow of Emanuel Worms and mother-in-law of Naatje’s sister Sara van West. From there, she left for Antwerp again on 17 June 1942, where she resided till early August 1939 at Provinciestraat 144. On 4 August, she moved once more to Gitschotellei 190 in Borgerhout and on 12 July 1940 again to Antwerp-City at Constitutiestraat 87, where she passed away on 10 February 1941.
Sources include the Dossier of Foreigners of the City of Antwerp, no. 193169; the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of David van West (1863), Willem van West (1887) and Naatje van West (1908); archive card of Vrouwtje Worms-Cohen (1859); the website stenenarchief.nl/grave David van West (1863); the City Archive of Rotterdam, registration in the People’s Registry of Naatje van West and the certificate of death no. 525 for Naatje van West of 13 February 1941 made out in Antwerp.