Hermanus Ludovicus Oudkerk, born 23 April 1907 in Borgerhout (Antwerp), was a son of Ludovicus Oudkerk (aka Louis or Lodewijk) and Elsje Oudkerk. He was a traveller in women’s fashion items and married the Roman Catholick Fermananda Josepha Hubertina Michielsen on 30 August 1932 in Borgerhout (Antwerp), who was born there on 19 August 1903.
Before Hemanus Ludovicus was married, he left Belgium for Amsterdam in March 1930 where he arrieved at his parent’s house , who had just moved from the 1e Boerhaavestraat 10 to Ruyschstraat 45. He left from there on 4 September 1931 to Oude Doelenstraat 16 ground floor. After he was married in Borgerhout in 1932, he returned to Amsterdam where the couple found space live-in with Johannes Zondag and family at the 2nd floor of 1e Boerhaavestraat 10
On 8 March 1937, he moved with his non-Jewish wife from Amsterdam to Rotterdam, where they lived at Vrouw Jannestraat 48a, located in the Agniese District. On 1 March 1938 they moved to Zwart Jansstraat 109b in the district Het Oude Noorden and on 29 November 1939 they found there their final address at Heer Vrankestraat 44b. This was also the address where Hermanus L. Oudkerk was registered byh the Jewish Council, when the Germans decreed the mandatory registration of all Jews in the Netherlands from 10 January 1941.
It is not unlikely that Hermanus Ludovicus Oudkerk was arrested on 16 September 1942 during a raid in Rotterdam and taken via Loods 24 to Westerbork, where he was brought in on 17 September. Deportation soon followed: on 25 September 1942, Hermanus Ludovicus Oudkerk was deported to Auschwitz. His non-Jewish wife was spared from arrest and deportation.
Upon arrival in Auschwitz the 28th, the 35-year old Hermanus Ludovicus Oudkerk was selected for employment and ended up in Auschwitz III, which was part of concentration camp Auschwitz I, also called Arbeitslager Monowitz, BUNA-Lager or Konzentrationslager Monowitz. He was employed there at the so-called Buna-Werke where synthetic rubber was made.
Of the total of 928 deportees, only approximately 130 to 140 men were selected for employment. All others, i.e. women, children under 15, the sick, the weak and men over 50 years of age were immediately gassed. As was also established after research by the Red Cross and stated in their publication Auschwitz III: “no one returned from this transport”, not even the employed men.
Bases on the aforementioned investigation by the Red Cross, the Dutch authorities after the war adopted the Red Cross conclusion, which read: “The men aged 15 to 50 years of age, about whom nothing is known individually, are considered to have died no later than 31 January 1943”. The Municipality of Rotterdam was commissioned to draw up a death certificate that Hermanus Ludovicus Oudkerk died in Auschwitz on 31 January 1943.
Sources include the Amsterdam City Archives, family registration cards of Hermanus Ludovicus Oudkerk and Ludovicus Oudkerk; residence cards of Amsterdam,1e Boerhaavestraat 10, Ruyschsstraat 45 and Oude Doelenstraat 16; the Rotterdam City Archives, family registration cards of Hermanus Ludovicus Oudkerk; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Hermanus Ludovicus Oudkerk; Publication Auschwitz III – page 70/transport 25 September 1942; website ITS Arolson/list of concentration camps with deceased persons/Hermanus L. Oudkerk 31-01-1943 in Monowitz; death certificate 3236, year 1950-folio 35, drawn up 14 December 1950 in Rotterdam for Hermanus Ludovicus Oudkerk and the Wikipedia listing of Jew transports from the Netherlands.nl/25 September 1942.