Femmetje Wurms, the first-born of the four children of Juda Wurms and Rebecca Vogel, was born on 30 April 1915 in Amsterdam. She had another younger sister Catharina and two brothers, Isaac and Abraham. She married in Amsterdam on 5 August 1942 Jacob Batavier, a son of Salomon Batavier and Naatje Menist.
Jacob Batavier was born on 13 October 1915 in Aarlanderveen and started working as a druggist. Femmetje was a tailor by trade. Jacob however also entered the tailoring trade and from 17 July 1941 he was employed at the Hollandia Kattenburg clothing factory. After Jacob and Femmetje were married in 1942, Jacob came living in with Femmetje and her parents at Tugelaweg 95 1st floor in Amsterdam.
Hollandia Kattenburg also supplied the Wehrmacht, reason why the Jews of Hollandia were exempted from transport, just as their families. They were considered as economically important. (source: website Joods Amsterdam/Hollandia Kattenburg – Dutch language only).
However during the large scale raids of early October 1942, Jacob and his wife Femmetje Wurms were arrested and carried off to Westerbork; Jacob Batavier ended up in barrack 56, the work barrack of cables and batteries but not much later, he was already put to work in barrack 59, the barrack of shoemaking and clothing repairs.
It was because of their arrest that they were not present in the factory, when on 11 November 1942 during a raid at the Hollandia Kattenburg clothing factory in Amsterdam-North, 367 Jewish emplyees were arrested and taken to German concentration camps, together with their relatives. (source: website oorlogsbronnen.nl/razzia Hollandia Kattenburg – Dutch language only).
But for unknown reasons, Femmetje and Jacob were discharged on 19 November 1942 from Westerbork, as was written on Jacob’s registration card of the Jewish Council. One day before they were released, the 18th of November, they had sent a message from Westerbork stating: “we will be back tomorrow,19 November”. But on 30 November 1942, the previously arrested Jewish employees of Hollandia Kattenburg were still deported to Auschwitz without Jacob Batavier and Femmetje Wurms.
Both were arrested again by the Germans, which was on 10 February 1943. That date they were carried off to concentration camp Vught and employed there: Jacob as tailor at the department “Finishing Soldier’s clothing” (sltkl.Veredlung), just as his wife, who ended up with Broekhuysen as a coat stitcher. But on 15 November 1943 they had been deported with another 1157 deportees in a direct transport from Vught to Auschwitz.
The transport from Vught arrived at Auschwitz on18 November 1943 and consisted mainly of men and women of working age, with few children and elderly persons. No selection took place on arrival: all were immediately registered. The entire transport then went into “quarantine” for six weeks, but some groups were immediately put to work.
As far as the women and children of this transport are concerned: witnesses have stated that already in the first weeks of the stay in Auschwitz – during the “quarantine” – a very large number of women died of typhus, dysentery and other diseases. The exact date in January 1944, on which children and women who had children with them, were selected for the gas chambers proved undeterminable. Only five women survived the selections of January 1944, so it must be concluded that all other women and the children, (including Femmetje Batavier-Wurms), died no later than 31 January 1944 as result of diseases, exhaustion, gassing or otherwise.
As far as the men are concerned, it has been concluded that at the time of the two major selections in January 1945, persons over 454 years of age went to “Block 18” (the gassing block) and that men aged 18 to 45 years were divided into two groups, the one, about 100-150 men, was put to work in Auschwitz-Birkenau, while the other group was transferred to the coal mines of Janina, Jawischowitz and Fürstengube. Witness statements indicate an average life span of two to three months for workers in the mines of Janina and Fürstengrube.
Due to all the investigations and witness statements, it is plausible to state that the men of this transport aged 18 to 45 years of age, who were transferred to the mining area, unless it could be determined individually, are presumed to have died no later than 31 March 1944. The dates of which the selections took place in January could not be determined precisely, which leads to the conclusion that all other men of this transport, including Jacob Batavier, died in Auschwitz-Birkenau, no later than 31 January 1944.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Salomon Batavier (1884) and Juda Wurms (1886); archive cards of Femmetje Wurms, Jacob Batavier; Amsterdam residence card Iepenweg 21 3rd floor/the Salomon Batavier family; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Femmetje Batavier-Wurms and Jacob Batavier; website Joods Amsterdam/Hollandia Kattenburg; website Oorlogsbronnen/razzia Hollandia Kattenburg; website ITS Arolson/camp cards Vught for Femmetje Batavier-Wurms and Jacob Batavier; Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/30 Oct 1942 and 14 Nov 1943; the Dutch Red Cross publication from October 1953 Auschwitz volume IV-deportation transports to Auschwitz/autumn 1943-page 57 part IV, page 58-61, 68-69 re transport of 15 Nov 1943 and the certificate of death nr 115 dated 31 Aug 1951 from the A-register 85-foli 21 for Femmetje Wurms and nr. 590 dated 17 Aug 1951 from the A-register 83-folio 83 verso for Jacob Batavier, made out in Amsterdam