Nathan Smeer was a son of Jacob Smeer and Elisabeth Pool. 24 July 1929 He married Rosetta Swaab in Amsterdam, a daughter of Samuel Swaab and Betje van Gelderen. Their daughter Frederika was already born in July 1927. Together with her mother, she was killed in Sobbor. Her father was killed in the peat camp Dorohucza.
Nathan was born into a family with six children. Natha’s father, Jacob Smeer had more than 10 siblings. One of them was Azor Smeer, who was married to Sara Cohen. They had five children, among them Izak, who was 6 years older than Nathan. Izak and Nathan as cousins were photographed together in 1925 in Amsterdam.
Nathan and his family lived at Valckenierstraat 1 1st floor in Amsterdam since 18 January 1940. He was a photographer by trade. His registration card from the Jewish Council however shows that he was sent to Camp Westerbork as a “penal case” and arrived there 15 April 1943 and stayed in barack 66. 20 April 1943 he was deported as “penal case” to Sobibor, where he was not killed immediately upon arrival 23 April 1943, but selected as one of the few for forced labor. So Nathan was sent to the “SS-Arbeitslager Dorohucza” (SS-work camp), where peat was won. This camp has come into use end of Februrary/beginning of March 1943 and was located halfway Lublin and Chelm, about 5 km distant from Trawniki. Just to keep up production, the hard work had to continue without interruptions. Because many died of exhaustion, there was always a need for new slaves. That was the reason why in Sobibor upon arrival of transports the required fresh forces for Dorohucza were selected, about 80 men each week. The SS-leadership knew that everybody in the peat camp would die within several weeks. Of the permanent occupation by 500 Jews, half of them were Dutch. Also Nathan Smeer belonged to them. Eventually Nathan lost his life in Dorohucza 30 November 1943.
Nathan’s wife Rosetta Swaab and his daughter Frederika have been deported to Sobibor with that same transport of 20 April 1943, where they both upon arrival were killed immediately 23 April 1943.
Sources: City Archive of Amsterdam, archive cards of Nathan Smeer and Rosetta Swaab; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Nathan Smeer, Rosetta Smeer-Swaab and Frederika Swaab and the book “Extermination Camp Sobibor”, chapter Dorohucza/Lublin page 124 and further by Jules Schelvis.