Marcus Degen was a son of Levie Degen and Eva Bleekveld. Marcus, a dealer and diamond trader, married 24 March 1915 in Zaandaam Sientje van der Glas, a daughter of Jochem van der Glas and Elsje Bonnewit. The couple had two children, namely Louis - also known as Loutje - and Eva. Both their children were killed in the Shoah.
Eva was unmarried and was already registered in Westerbork on 17 Juli 1942, from where she was deported to Auschwitz four days later where she has lost her life. Their son Louis was married and lived elsewhere in Amsterdam. He was a diamond trader too. His family was sent 15 months later to Camp Westerbork, on 24 March 1943
Marcus and his wife Sientje arrived in Camp Westerbork on 27 March 1943 where they stayed for a short period in barack 63. On 30 March they have been deported to Sobibor where they arrived on 2 April 1943 and still the same day killed there in the gaschambers.
Marcus Degen was born into a family with eight children. Only one of his sisters has survived the Holocaust, however not her husband Israel Buitenkant; he lost his life in Bergen Belsen on 31 March 1945. The other siblings of Marcus were Rosetta, Sara, Branca, Clara, jansje, and Rachel. Except two children of the family of Branca and her husband Meijer Smeer, all other siblings with their families have been killed in the Shoah.
City Archive of Amsterdam, archive card of Levie Degen, website www.wiewaswie.nl and the file cabinet of the Jewish Council of Amsterdma, cards of Marcus Degen, Sientje van der Glas and Eva Degen.