Jacob Henriques de la Fuente was a son of Emanuel Henriques de la Fuente and Helena Viëra. He was born on 28 March 1868 in Den Haag and married in Amsterdam Benvenida Engers on 16 January 1890, a daughter of Hijman Engers and Simha Meljado. Benvenida was born on 23 March 1861.
Jacob and Benvenida had six children, of whom Hijman and David survived the Holocaust. The other four children, namely Helena, Sophie, Emanuel and Leonard were murdered in the Shoah with their families.
After Jacob and Benvenida were married in January 1890, they lived at the Nieuwe Achtergracht 10, but they moved to Gerard Doustraat 184 1st floor on 7 April 1892, where Jacob with his family has lived until October 1926.
When Jacob became a widower on 4 February 1924 as his wife Benvenida Engers died at the age of 62, he still remained living there until 6 October 1926; then he moved to Govert Flinckstraat 263 where he came living in with Nathan van Delft and his family, who was married to his daughter Sophie.
However, on 17 March 1927 he moved in with his son Leonard Henriques de la Fuente, who was married on 17 December 1925 to Hendrika de Vries, and who lived at Tweede Jan van der Heijdenstraat 11 2nd floor. All the later years, if his son moved to another address, Jacob too moved with his son's family: in 1929 to Biesboschstraat 63 2nd stock, in 1934 to Uiterwaardenstraat 226 ground floor and in 1937 to Vechtstraat 87 1st floor, which in the end would appear to be Jacob’s last known address in the Netherlands too.
On 11 May 1943, Jacob Henriques de la Fuente was carried off from Amsterdam to Westerbork where at first he was hospitalized in the sick-bay of barrack 83. Later, he was accomodated in barrack 68, a “normal” residential barrack.
To escape deportation, a pedigree research into the Portuguese descendancy of Jacob's ancestors was started on 20 May 1943; notes on the registration card of the Jewish Council of Jacob Henriques de la Fuente indicate, among other things, that it was requested to provide data from his two Portuguese grandparents, one Aryan and one for which no data is available, the negative statement of the Portuguese Israelite Congregation and the birth- and death certificate of Jacob's wife.
After extensive correspondences and conversations, in which Jacob's daughter-in-law Hendrika de Vries was also involved, it appeared on 30 June 1943 that this case would be handled by a competent authority in Den Haag. In July, further information was again requested, including the request regarding the pedigree research of the person concerned. (previously already treated (in May) for the person concerned by Mr. van Gelderen of the Amsterdam information office of the Jewish Council, Lekstraat 150).
On 9 July 1943, the person concerned in Westerbork was informed that it could be expected that the competent authority in The Hague would confirm that the case was pending. However, nothing could be done without documents.
More details about the continuation of this pedigree research are failing, but in the end it has led to nothing. Jacob Henriques de la Fuente was still deported to Auschwitz on 8 February 1944 in a transport which included 1015 deportees in total. Upon arrival there on 11 February 1944, the 75-year old Jacob Henriques de la Fuente was immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards and archive cards of Jacob Henriques de la Fuente; various Amsterdam residence cards; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Jacob Henriques de la Fuente; website joodsamsterdam.nl/ departments of the Jewish Council of Amsterdam and the Wikipedia website jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl.