Hijman Oudkerk, born on 17 April 1920, was a son from the first marriage of Selma Hemelrijk and Levie Oudkerk (who called himself Louis). He lived with his parents, sister Sophie and brother Gerrit at Herengracht 94 in Amsterdam. On 30 September 1929, 9-year-old Hijman was sent to Nijkerk, where he received Jewish- and Regular Primary Education from religious teacher Sander Colthof. Hijman stayed in Nijkerk until 25 April 1933. He had then just turned 13 and in the Jewish School in Kloosterstraat, which was also used as a synagogue, he will undoubtedly have become Bar-Mitsvah.
On 25 April 1933, Hijman Oudkerk returned to Amsterdam and stayed at various addresses in the city; his father died a month later at the age of 54 and was interred on 2 June 1933 at the Jewish Cemetery in Muiderberg.
Hijman's mother, Selma Hemelrijk, remarried on 21 August 1937 to Max Bernstein, who was born on 25 July 1895 in Hameln (D) and who also lived at Herengracht 94. He was a son of Kusel Bernstein and Emma Stern. From 23 August 1937, Hijman also lived at Herengracht 94 again.
On 31 March 1939 Hijman was approved for the Militia and on 5 February 1940 he was assigned to the 5th Regiment Infantry Plough II, but on 24 May 1940 he was discharged due to deficiencies. Further information from that register showed that in addition to 6 classes of primary education, Hijman also received a year of ULO education. His occupation was stated as working as a buyer at a clothing company, but he was also a warehouse clerk. Maybe as a precaution, or perhaps it had to do with his work as a buyer, Hijman obtained a passport on 14 June 1939, valid until 14 June 1941, which was extended on 30 June 1941 until 14 June 1943.
On 31 December 1941 Hijman moved to Vossiusstraat 14, where Jon Levie and Hertha Levie-Goldschmidt ran a boarding house. In the night of 16 to 17 September 1942 the boarding house owners of Vossiusstraat 14 were arrested, taken to Westerbork and deported to the extermination camps, together with several other residents of the boarding house.
Before that, on 7 May 1942 the occupier forced Hijman Oudkerk to move to Krugerplein 32 3rd floor in Amsterdam-East, his last known official residential address, as stated on his registration card from the Jewish Council. Hijman was arrested on 18 December 1942 and taken to Westerbork. But presumably that was from his unofficial address Weesperzijde 22, which was still noted on his Jewish Council card. It is not known when he went from Krugerplein to Weesperzijde, but it is likely that it must have been somewhere in 1942 between 7 May and 18 December.
Apparently, his arrest was rather rough, because after entering Westerbork on 18 December 1942, Hijman was first treated in the camp's outpatient clinic, located in barrack 4, where he stayed until 25 January 1943. Then he was transferred to barrack 5, the camp hospital for men. On 4 February he ended up in barrack 73 and on 16 April in barrack 61, the latter two were residential barracks.
On 11 May 1943, Hijman Oudkerk was transported to Sobibor with 1445 other victims. Upon arrival in Sobibor on 14 May, 80 people were selected for employment in camp Dorohucza. This was a labor camp where peat was cut, built by the SS as part of Aktion Reinhard. Of those 80 people, 67 messages were received in the Netherlands, 3 of which were from women. A message from Hijman was also received at the Jewish Council in Amsterdam on 7 September 1943, which does not mean that Hijman was still alive at that time. Only one person survived this transport.
After the war, after research by, among others, the Red Cross and testimonies from several survivors, including Jules Schelvis, the Dutch Authorities concluded, also in view of the circumstances at the time in camp Dorohucza and other labor camps in that area (Trawniki, Poniatowa and Radom), that Hijman Oudkerk could no longer have been alive after 30 November 1943.
The municipality of Amsterdam was then ordered to draw up a death certificate for Hijman Oudkerk, in which the decision of the District Court of Amsterdam of 12 May 1948 is also stated, that Hijman Oudkerk must have died in the district of Lublin in Poland in the period from 1 September 1943 to 30 November 1943. The exact place and date are unknown. On the Jewish Monument his death is therefore mentioned as in Lublin on 30 November 1943.
Sources include the City Archives of Amsterdam, family card Levie (Louis) Oudkerk (1878), archive card Hijman Oudkerk (1920), passport application Hijman Oudkerk, Militia register Amsterdam/Hijman Oudkerk; the archive of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Hijman Oudkerk; housing card Amsterdam/Vossiusstraat 14 with Hijman Oudkerk; website stenenarchief.nl/record 29394 grave Levie (louis) Oudkerk; Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/transport 11 Mei 1943 and the certificate of death for Hijman Oudkerk no.228, made out in Amsterdam on 23 June 1948 based on a court order of 12 May 1948 stating his date of death between 1 September and 30 November 1943 in the district of Lublin. (1948-book 7-39v)