Betsie van West was the eldest of the three children of Jacob van West and Judith Gobets. She was born in Amsterdam on 20 March 1921 and lived with her parents and younger sister Keetje at Retiefstraat 88 in East Amsterdam. But in fact Jacob van West's family lived in with his parents-in-law Jacob Gobets and Betsie Barend.
Betsie van West had completed a ULO education and started working as an office clerk. But she changed her profession and became an apprentice nurse. On 20 October 1942, she received an I.D. with no. 1961 from the Jewish Council, which exempted her from being called up for the so-called “Arbeitseinsatz”.
In her capacity as an apprentice nurse she worked in “Het Apeldoornsche Bosch”, the Central Israelitic Psychiatric Hospital in Apeldoorn, which was violently evicted by the Germans in the night of 21 to 22 January 1943. In addition, on 23 January 1943, all patients with the staff still present were deported to Auschwitz and immediately murdered on arrival there on 25 January 1943.
However, a number of personnel did not go with the deportation train to Auschwitz, but were carried off from Apeldoorn to Westerbork on 22 January 1943. This included Betsie van West, who was housed in barrack 72 upon arrival. On 2 February she was also deported to Auschwitz and immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau on 5 February 1943 upon arrival there.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of David van West (1863) and Jacob Gobets (1870); archive cards of Jacob van West, Judith van West-Gobets and Betsie van West; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Betsie van West and the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/2 February 1943.