Hijman de Swarte was a son of Ruben de Swarte and Rebecca de Swarte. His parents were cousins and they had eight children together, viz. Meijer, Abraham Lion, Sara, Izaak, Judith, Joseph, Barend and Hijman. Barens died already after five weeks and Joseph survived the war. All the others were murdered during the Shoah.
As the 4th child Hijman was born on 24 January 1887 in Amsterdam. He was a merchand and dealer and traded later in carpets and art items. He married on 25 November 1908 the daughter of Izaak Samuel van Dal and Maria Neuwit, Louise van Dal, who was born on 10 July 1884 in Amsterdam.
Hijman and Louise had three children: the eldest, Rebecca, who was born on 8 April 1909, married in 1929 Abraham Elzas and had six children with him. However the entire Elzas family was murdered during the Shoah. Then, on 14 August 1910, their 2nd child was born, Isaac, who married Lena Bak in 1933. Isaac and Lena had two children, but this family too was murdered during the Shoah. The last one was Sara, born on 19 December 1915; she survived the Holocaust and died early 2004.
After Hijman and Louise were married and their first child Rebecca was born, they left Amsterdam for Antwerp and stayed at Pelikaanstraat 126. After a few months, they returned in 1910 in Amsterdam. When Isaac was born in that same year, they all left Amsterdam again for Antwerp and stayed then at Van Spangenstraat 13. Hijman then returned to Amsterdam, but travelled to Antwerp several times between 1919 and 1928 too.
In 1928 and 1929 Hijman again stayed several times in Antwerp and according to his own statements, to set up a business there. In 1928 however he signed a Roay Decree, as a result of which he was no longer welcome in Antwerp, duet of law violations. Nevertheless, he was found there again in August 1929 and arrested, risking a prison senctence of 8 days for not complying with the Royal Decree of 1928, signed by himself.
The marriage of Hijman de Swarte and Louise van Dal did not last and on 30 May 1930 the marriage was dissolved in Amsterdam. Between 1930 and 1939, Hijman as well Louise, with and/or without her unmarried daughter Sara, moved several times from Amsterdam to Den Haag and vice versa. The Amsterdam residence cards show that they sometimes both lived at the same address but not together.
As far as it concernc Hijman: his last known address was Markensteeg 11 1st floor in the old city centre of Amsterdam, where he in 1941 during the obligatory registration of all the Jews in the Netherlands was registered. Of his ex, Louise van Dal, it was Zanddwarsstraat 26 in Amsterdam. But during the registraion with the Jewish Council, early 1941, she still lived at Rapenburgerstraat 17, moved 2 August 1941 to Tweede Oosterparkstraat 91 2nd floor and her last known addres, possibly in 1942 was Zanddwarsstraat 26 in Amsterdam.
On 18 June 1941, Hijman de Swarte remarried the seamstress Leentje Vogel, a daughter of Salomon Vogel and Sara Roodvelt, who was born on 18 April 1915 in Amsterdam. As an unmarried mother, she gave birth to a son named Salomon on 15 January 1915, who received the familyname of his mother: Vogel. The biological father appeared to be Hijman de Swarte, but Salomon has not been legalized during the marriage of his “father”and mother in 1941. He thus kept the family name of his mother: Vogel.
Again two children were born from the marriage of Hijman de Swarte and Leentje Vogel, viz. Max de Swarte on 15 December 1941 and on 25 January 1943 even Anna de Swarte. Early 1943, Hijman received a call (nr. 31441) to report in Westerbork to which he responded with his entire family.
On 6 April 1943, Hijman de Swarte, his wife Leentje de Swarte-Vogel, Salomon Vogel, Max and Anna de Swarte were accomodated in barrack 57 in Westerbork. They had to wait there until 8 June before they were put on transport to Sobibor. There upon arrival on 11 June 1943, they were immediately murdered in the gas chambers.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Hijman de Zwarte, Louise van Dal and Leentje Vogel; archive cards of Hijman de Swarte, Louise van Dal and of the children Salomon Vogel, Max de Swarte and Anna de Swarte; birth certificate from 1915 A24-14v for Sara de Swarte; the Felix archive, Dossier of foreigners of the City of Antwerp nr. 13802 of Hijman de Swarte; Municipal Archive of Den Haag, family registration cards of Hijman de Swarte x Louise van Dal; wedding certificate Amsterdam 1941 nr.135 of Hijman de Swarte x Leentje Vogel; Various residence cards of Amsterdam; the file cabinet of the Jewisch Council, registration cards of Hijman de Swarte, Louise van Dal, Leentje Vogel and the children Salomon Vogel, Max and Anna de Swarte and the certificate of death from the A-registers made out in Amsterdam for Hijman de Swarte, Leentje Vogel, Salomon Vogel and Max and Anna de Swarte.