Elisabeth Brandon was a daughter of Isaak Jacob Isaak Brandon and Rosa Groenewout and was born on 30 March 1882 in Amsterdam. She was the youngest of 6 children; her siblings were Jetje (13-04-1873), Mietje (24-02-1875), Jacob (31-10-1876), Joseph (13-07-1878) and Klara (10-05-1880). Only Mietje, who was married to Jacob Mok, passed away in 1915 and was buried at the Jewish Cemetery in Diemen. Her other sibs all died between 1940 and 1945.
Elisabeth Brandon married Jechiël Ritmeester, a son of Jacob Ritmeester and Rachel Rimini, on 15 January 1913 in Amsterdam. Jechiël was born on 12 March 1887 in Amsterdam and he was a butcher by profession. Until his marriage he lived in the Joden Kerkstraat in Amsterdam.
Elisabeth and Jechiël had seven children. The eldest was Rachel, who was born on 18 November 1913. She married Eliazer Morpurgo in 1934 and then left the parental home to the 2nd floor of Kerkstraat 411. She had two children with him, Elisabeth and Ricka, but they were all murdered in Sobibor in June and July 1943.
Of the other children, Jacob David, born on 12 April 1920, lived only six weeks and died on 23 May 1920. There were also Isaac, born on 27 March 1916, and the twins Rosa and Esther, born on 17 August 1918, followed by David on 6 November 1922 and Philip on 2 May 1924.
After the marriage took place in January 1913, the couple came to live at Nieuwe Kerkstraat 43, but after more than 1 ½ years they moved to Utrechtsedwarsstraat 31, 2nd floor. This was followed by further moves to Van Hogendorpstraat, Nieuwe Herengracht, Lange Houtstraat, Hoofdweg, Halmaheirastraat, Oudeschans and on 21 October 1933 to Zandstraat 27.
While they still lived at the Oude Schans, Jechiël Ritmeester passed away there on 16 March 1933 and he was interred in the Jewish Cemetery in Diemen. The widow Elisabeth Brandon and her children moved again in 1938, this time to Lepelstraat 2, 2nd floor, which would also turn out to be their last known address in the Netherlands.
The two youngest children, David and Philip Ritmeester, were placed a year after the death of their father Jechiël in the Dutch Israelitic Boys' Orphanage "Megadle Jethomiem", located at Amstel no. 21. They were taken from there to Westerbork on 19 July 1942 and deported to Auschwitz on 21 July. Their official date of death was set after the war by the Ministry of Justice as 30 September 1942 in Auschwitz. Yet many years later it could be determined that they had both been murdered in Auschwitz on 20 and 22 August 1942.
Isaac Ritmeester was called up to be taken to Westerbork together with his twin sisters Esther and Rosa on 19 July 1942. However, for unknown reasons, Esther and Rosa were removed from the transport list at the last minute. Only Isaac then ended up in Westerbork, from where he was deported to Auschwitz on 24 July. According to the Auschwitz death registers, he was murdered there on 8 August 1942, but after the war the Dutch Ministry of Justice set his official date of death at 9 August 1942. (Register A49-71v, no. 420 dated 8 September 1950).
Elisabeth Ritmeester-Brandon, together with her two daughters Esther and Rosa, was deported to the recently opened concentration camp 's-Hertogenbusch in Vught on 10 February 1943. But after just 10 days, on 20 February 1943, she was transferred from Vught to Westerbork. Three days later, on 23 February she was deported to Auschwitz and murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau upon arrival there on 26 February 1943.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Jechiël Ritmeester, closed family registration cards of Isaac Jacob Brandon, the Amsterdam wedding certificate no.30 for Ritmeester x Brandon, Amsterdam residence card of Hoofdweg 140 with Jechiël Ritmeester; website stenenarchief.nl/grave Jechiël Ritmeester; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Elisabeth Ritmeester-Brandon; website ITS Arolson/ camp card Vught of Elisabeth Ritmeester-Brandon and the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/23 February 1943.