Louis Salomons, born in Amsterdam on 8 April 1900, was a son of Meijer Salomons (1863) and Bloeme de Paauw. His father Meijer was in the diamond trade: he was a diamond cutter and jeweler by profession. Louis also traded in diamonds at an early age, but at the age of 23 he left his parental home - then Overtoom 447 Amsterdam - around mid-December 1923 for Antwerp where he went to live with his brother Michel (Machiel) at Van den Nestlei 11. Louis was still unmarried at the time.
After his arrival, Louis learned to cut diamonds at a diamond company at Somersstraat 59 in Antwerp and a year later, in November 1924, he worked at Van Damme at Lamorinièrestraat 41/43 in Antwerp and earned approximately Bfrs 140 per week. Moreover, he wanted to establish himself in Belgium as a diamond trader.On 8 July 1930, Louis returned to Amsterdam and found living space at Muiderstraat 9, 1st floor. He then became a member of the General Dutch Diamond Workers Association (ANDB).
Also his membership with the ANDB started on 8 July 1930, but was probably terminated when he left for Antwerp again on 6 November 1931 and became a member of the Antwerp Diamond Workers Union (ADB) there on 9 November 1931. At the time he lived in Antwerp at Steenbokstraat 29 and later at Mercatorstraat 80.
When Louis returned to Amsterdam on 21 August 1939, he became a member of the ANDB again. He then lived at Hunzestraat 11 1st floor in the River District of Amsterdam-South. He left Antwerp for the Netherlands without providing a new address and was officially deregistered from the Antwerp Population Register on 19 April 1940, because his residence permit had already expired on 16 November 1939.
On 4 December 1940, Louis Salomons married Jeannette Blog in Amsterdam, a daughter of Samuel Blog and Leentje Fransman, who lived in Borgerhout. After the marriage was concluded, Louis and Jeannette moved into a house at Winterdijkstraat 6 in Amsterdam-South, a side street of Hunzestraat.
In the meantime, also Louis and Jeannette were obliged to register with the newly established Jewish Council at the beginning of 1941, as all Jews in the Netherlands were obliged to do. Louis was granted a reprieve from deportation by the Council on 1 August 1942, after he was most likely called up for the so-called “Arbeitseinsatz” in Germany. That delay did not mean that he could avoid deportation: on 4 September 4, 1942, Louis Salomons was yet deported to Auschwitz with 713 other victims.
This transport made a stop in Cosel, located approximately 80 km west of Auschwitz, where 200 boys and men between the ages of 15 and 50 who were suitable for work were forced to leave the train and subsequently put to work in the surrounding forced labor camps in Upper Silesia.
In the meantime, Jeannette Salomons-Blog was left alone and on 2 March 1943 she was forced to move to the Transvaal District in Amsterdam-East and ended up in the Dani Theronstraat 3, 3rd floor. She then took her fate into her own hands and, as stated on her registration card with the Jewish Council, “traveled without leaving an address.” She fled to Belgium and was hidden with her twin sister Roza and her husband at Borgerhout. She ultimately survived the Holocaust.
The 200 boys and men from the transport of 4 September 1942 who had "disembarked" in Cosel were first transferred to the transit camp and "Arbeitslager" St. Annaberg. The route followed for the vast majority of that transport was then to Anhalt/Fürstengrube, Graditz and other places in the Gross-Rosen resort and finally Langenbielau/Reichehbach. It is not known where exactly Louis Salomons ultimately ended up, although it can be assumed that he was employed in the coal mines of Fürstengrube.
The precise date and place of death of Louis Salomons is not known. After the war, pursuant by order of the Amsterdam District Court of 15 July 1946, which was registered in the death register of the Amsterdam Civil Registry on 22 August 1946, the death of Louis Salomons has been established around the end of April 1944 in Auschwitz in Poland. On the website Joods Monument the date of death is listed as 30 April 1944.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Meijer Salomons (1863), Gompel Blog (1868) and Samuel Blog; certificates of birth from Amsterdam, no’s 14294 and 104296 dated 15 Dec. 1914 for Jeannette and Roza Blog; archive cards for Louis Salomons and Jeannette Blog; ANDB en ADB membership cards of Louis Salomons; the Dossiers of Foreigners of the City of Antwerp, no’s 125956 for Samuel Blog and 175798 for Louis Salomons; Amsterdam residence cards/Muiderstraat 9/Louis Salomons amd Amstellaan 47 3rd level/Jeannette Blog; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Louis Salomons and Jeannette Salomons-Blog; Death certificats 371, year 1946/register 10 dated 22 August 1946 made out in Amsterdam for Louis Salomons and the website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/transport 4 September 1942.