Willem Salomon Leon Beek was the eldest of the six children of Leon Salomon Beek and Mietje Oudkerk. He was born in Den Helder on 16 January 1908 and he earned his living as a draper.
In January 1934, the then unmarried Willem Salomon Leon Beek came from Den Helder to Amsterdam. He lived there at various addresses, including Plantage Middenlaan 40, Plantage Parklaan 1 and Biesboschstraat 68. On 17 October 1936, Willem left for Hilversum and lived there at Gijsbrecht van Amstelstraat 107.
On 6 April 1938, Willem Salomon Leon Beek married 28-year-old Johanna Blok in Hilversum, who was born in Harlingen on 19 October 1909 as the daughter of Joël Blok and Anna Vlessing. Originating from Texel, where she lived with her parents, she was registered as a apprentice nurse from 2 August 1929 and worked at the Dutch Israelitic Old Men and Women Hospital at Nieuwe Kerkstraat 135.
From 11 February 1935 she lived in with the Adolf de Vries family in Amsterdam, who lived at Biesboschstraat 30 I. After living in the Biesboschstraat, Johanna worked as a saleswoman, buyer and was also head of a ladies' ready-to-wear department until her marriage. Because the De Vries family was going to move to Naarden on 1 July 1937, Johanna Blok left for Hilversum on 19 February 1937, where she found living space at Gijsbrecht van Amstelstraat 107.
After Willem and Johanna were married in 1938, they continued to live at Gijsbrecht van Amstelstraat 107 in Hilversum, where their daughter Anneke Mieke was born on 30 November 1939. On 12 August 1942, after a mandatory move from Hilversum to Amsterdam, Willem, Johanna and Anneke Mieke moved into a house at 30 Roerstraat.
Unfortunately, it is not known whether the family of Willem Salomon Leon Beek subsequently made attempts to go into hiding. However, entries on the archive card from the Amsterdam City Archives of Johanna Blok show that - albeit only on 12 October 1944 - Johanna and her daughter V.O.W. have gone; Left Unknown Where, which usually meant that the persons concerned had gone into hiding. It is not known where they stayed. But in October 1945, mother and daughter were registered at the address Geuzenweg 106 in Hilversum; After the war they were both listed on the so-called Eindhoven List.
Willem Salomon Leon Beek did not survive the Shoah. He was arrested in Apeldoorn on 18 April 1943, but it is not known whether he went into hiding there or was in Apeldoorn for other reasons. After his arrest, he was transferred from Apeldoorn to the SD in Arnhem or the SD of Amsterdam on 22 April, from where he was taken the 23rd to Westerbork as a penal case. On 24 April he was registered there and locked up in penal barrack 66 and deported to Sobibor on 27 April 1943.
The transport that Willem was part of included a total of 1204 victims. All of them, including Willem Salomon Leon Beek, were murdered immediately in the gas chambers upon arrival there on 30 April 1943.
Sources include the website Alle Friezen/Peoples Registry Harlingen; the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Johanna Blok and Willem Salomon Leon Beek; archive cards of Willem Salomon Leon Beek and Johanna Blok; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Willem Salomon Leon Beek, Johanna Beek-Blok and of Anneke Mieke Beek; Special Registers Amsterdam Archive with Johanna Blok as apprenctice nurse; Residence cards Amsterdam/Plantage Middenlaan 40 with Willem S.L. Beek and Biesboschstraat 30 with Johanna Blok; info from www.gedenkstenen-apeldoorn.nl and the Wikipedia website Jodenstransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/transport of 27 April 1943.