Margaretha Brandon was the youngest of the four children of Joseph Brandon and Kaatje Roe. She was born in Amsterdam on 11 February 1907 and worked as an office clerk. She was unmarried and lived at home with her parents. Her last known address in Amsterdam was Henriette Ronnerplein 8, 2nd floor in Amsterdam South.
Margaretha was among the first to be called up in mid-July 1942 to report for the so-called "Arbeitseinsatz" in Germany. She received the call on 15 July and had to report to Westerbork on 16 July. There she had to await her deportation to Auschwitz, which took place on 21 July 1942. That transport included 1008 people who had been called up for work in "the East" and they must have arrived in Auschwitz around 24 July 1942.
From that moment on it is unclear what Margaretha Brandon's fate was. In any case, most were put to work upon arrival at Auschwitz, but it is not known whether that was also her fate and where she ended up. The big difference in the circumstances “at home in Amsterdam” and Auschwitz must have been a great shock. The conditions there were miserable and many succumbed to hardships they suffered, such as malnutrition, abuse and diseases, after just a few weeks. Her exact date of death is also unknown.
After the war, when research by the Red Cross revealed what happened in Auschwitz, as well as statements from survivors, the Dutch Authorities determined that Margaretha Brandon could no longer have been alive after 30 September 1942.
The Municipality of Amsterdam was then instructed to draw up a death certificate for Margaretha Brandon, which stated that she died in Auschwitz on 30 September 1942. This date of death of Margaretha is not her real date of death, but an official legal date, as also published in the Dutch Government Gazette and these dates are currently published on the website of the Joods Monument.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card of Joseph Brandon; archive card of Margaretha Brandon; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Margaretha Brandon and her death certificate no. 307 from the A-register 42-folio 53verso, dated 20 July 1950 and made out in Amsterdam, with the juridcal date of death of 30 September 1942 in Auschwitz and the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl