Eliazer Wijnberg was born in Groningen on 30 October 1893 as the son of Jozef Wijnberg and Ida Scheuer. Eliazer earned his living as a rag dealer, but during the years of the persecution of the Jews he worked for the Jewish Council from 1 September 1942.
Eliazer Wijnberg lived at Zuiderdiep 26a in Groningen. On 16 November 1922, he married Roza van Polen in Amsterdam, a daughter of Elkan Israel van Polen and Rebecca Wins, who was born there on 14 January 1900.
After the marriage had been concluded, the Wijnberg-van Polen couple moved into a house at Mesdagstraat 60 in Groningen on 2 December 1922. Their son Jozef Elkan was born there on 17 October 1923. On 27 April 1931, the family moved there to house number 69, but they left Groningen for Amsterdam on 12 February 1940: address Niersstraat 18, 2nd floor.
On 11 September 1942, Eliazer Wijnberg and Roza van Polen were arrested and taken to Westerbork. On 14 September 1942, both were deported to Auschwitz. It is wry that one day later, on 12 September 1942, the Jewish Council issued their son Jozef Elkan a "Sperre because of function". An exemption from deportation until further notice as he got a job as an archive keeper at Amstel 25, where the Travel- and Relocation Permits department of the Jewish Council was located.
Eliazer Wijnberg and his wife Roza van Polen were deported to Auschwitz, that 14th of September in a transport that included a total of 902 deportees, of which 120 boys and men between the ages of 15 and 50 were forced to leave the train in Cosel, approximately 80 km west from Auschwitz. They were then employed as forced laborers in the surrounding labor camps of Upper Silezia.
It is certain that Roza Wijnberg-van Polen was then sent onwards to Auschwitz. During post-war investigations, the Red Cross determined that those who remained on the train in Cosel were sent on to Auschwitz. They were the unfit for work, the elderly, the weak or sickly men and the women and children. In general it can be stated that the latter groups were killed by gassing immediately upon arrival at Auschwitz.
This was also the fate of Roza Wijnberg-van Polen; upon arrival in Auschwitz on 17 September 1942, she and the other deportees were immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
It is also fairly certain that 48-year-old Eliazer Wijnberg did not belong to the group of 120 men aged 15-50 who were forced to leave the train in Cosel. He too was sent onwards to Auschwitz, was not murdered in the gas chambers immediately upon arrival, but was registered in the camp, although nothing further is known about this, such as why, where he was employed, etc.
The death of Eliazer Wijnberg is namely registered in the “Sterbebücher” (Death Books) of Auschwitz, in which 69000 deaths were registered between 29 July 1941 and 31 December 1943. Only people, who were officially registered as “residents of the camp", for example as (forced) laborers, ultimately received such a deed, from which it can be deduced that Eliazer Wijnberg indeed was an official camp resident of Auschwitz. (source: Museum and Memorial Auschwitz-Birkenau/Auschwitz Prisoners/Sterbebücher).
The registration of Eliazer Wijnberg in the Death Books (Sterbebücher) of Auschwitz reveals, that he was murdered there on 23 September 1942. Later, a message was received in Amsterdam from the "Standesamt Auschwitz" (Civil Registry), that Eliazer Wijnberg had died as a result of "cardiac weakness" (Herzschwäche). It is not clear why Eliazer Wijnberg, as an “officially registered resident of the camp”, was murdered already five days later than his wife Roza van Polen.
The post-war conclusion of the Red Cross also applies to Eliazer Wijnberg, namely that those, who did not disembark from the transport of 14 September 1942 in Cosel, must be considered to have died on approximately 17 September 1942, unless it appears that they lived longer. The Auschwitz “Sterbebücher” reveals that Eliazer Wijnberg lived longer and was murdered there on 23 September 1942.
Sources include the City Archives of Amsterdam, archive cards of Eliazer Wijnberg, Roza van Polen and Jozef Elkan Wijnberg; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Eliazer Wijnberg, Roza Wijnberg-van Polen and Jozef Elkan Wijnberg; the archives of the Red Cross/Publication “Auschwitz III”- the Cosel transports – edited October 1952; the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/transport 14 September 1942; website Museum and Memorial Auschwitz-Birkenau/Auschwitz prisoners/Eliazer Wijnberg (Sterbebücher) and the death certificate made out 14 April 1947 in Amsterdam for Eliazer Wijnberg, year 1947- nr. 372 - register 4-folio 63 and an addition of a visitor of the website.