Salomon Winnik, the son of Jacob Winnik and Rachel Koopman, was born in Amsterdam on 25 August 1892 at Nieuwe Prinsengracht 62. He lived at home and moved to the family's new address after the turn of the century: Nieuwe Prinsengracht 90, 1st floor.
Salomon Winnik remained unmarried. He followed his father's footsteps and also became a diamond worker. From 1906 he was admitted as an apprentice diamond worker at the ANDB. He was trained as a brilliant cutter and passed his aptitude test at Duim and Dresden. He subsequently worked at I.J. Ascher in the Bottenheim workshop. His membership started on 27 March 1909 and he was assigned to department 2.
In 1942, it was forbidden for Jews to continue to be a member of the ANDB, the General Dutch Diamond Workers Union. The “Joodsche Weekblad” (the mandatory Jewish Weekly) of 6 March 1942 reads: “The board of the Association of Israelitic Diamond Workers "Betsalel" announces that, on the basis of the Regulation of the Reichs Commissioner No. 199/41, all Jewish diamond workers must withdraw as members of the ANDB. At the same time they must apply to be registered as members of 'Betsalel'. Salomon Winnik was also deregistered as a member of the ANDB on 14 March 1942 and became a mandatory member of “Betsalel”.
Salomon Winnik must have been arrested at some point in the summer of 1942 and taken to Westerbork. His name however does not appear on transport lists from Amsterdam to Westerbork, from 18 on 19 September to 4 on 5 October. After 5 October 1942, another transport from Amsterdam did not follow until 13 October 1942. However, by then Salomon Winnik could no longer be in Westerbork. Notes on his Jewish Council card indicate that he was deported on 9 October or 5 October 1942.
From the Red Cross archives, in which transport lists from Westerbork to Auschwitz also can be found, and in which the name Salomon Winnik appears, indicate on the one hand a transport date of "9 October 1942", but on the other hand only "October 1942".
Based on the investigations of the Red Cross, as published by them in October 1952, and his date of death of 31 August 1943, as published in the Dutch Government Gazette, as well as in his official legal death certificate no. 12 drawn up on 18 January 1952 from the A-register 93-3verso, it can be assumed with a fair degree of certainty that Salomon Winnik ultimately ended up in one of the forced labor camps of Upper Silesia via a so-called Cosel transport of 5 October 1942, departed from Westerbork.
The Red Cross publication “Auschwitz III”, appendix III – paragraph B: “separate transports”, sub 7, shows that: the men who left Westerbork with the transport of 5 October 1942 and who got off in Cosel, unless it appears otherwise, and otherwise taking into account the general conclusions stated, are deemed to have died after 8 October 1942, but no later than 31 August 1943 in one of the labor camps in Upper Silesia (Poland).
Despite that the exact date of Salomon’s death is unkown, it is therefore that the Dutch Ministry of Justice after the war commissioned the Municipality of Amsterdam, to draw op a certificate of death for Salomon Winnik, in which is established that he has died on 31 August 1943 in Mid-Europe.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card of Jacob Winnik, archive card of Salomon Winnik; membership cards ANDB of Salomon Winnik; website “Het Geheugen van Oost (dutch only)/to Betsalel/Salomon Winnik; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Salomon Winnik; the archive of the Dutch Red Cross/publication of October 1952 “Auschwitz III/Cosel transports/page 47 – transport of 5 October 1942 and appendix III/paragraph B/separate transports sub 7; the death certificate nr. 12 dated 18 January 1952 for Salomon Winnik from the A-register A93-folio 3verso.