Simon de Vries, born in Amstrdam on 28 August 1917, was a son of Rafaël de Vries and Betje Tertaas. He married 8 April 1942 in Amsterdam Mietje Frank, born there on 28 May 1921 as a daughter of Nathan Frank and Vrouwtje Pront. Mietje’s parents and sister Elizabeth and her husband have not survived the Holocaust.
Simon de Vries was tailor and furrer by profession. He lived at home with his parents at Govert Flinckstraat 364 2nd stock in Amsterdam. After his wedding in 1942 to the fashion hat maker Mietje Frank, his wife came living in there too.
On 27 January 1943, Simon de Vries was arrested and carried off to the SS-concentration camp Vught. From there, he was sent 21 March 1943 to the “Aussenkommando Moerdijk” where he had to stay in barrack 2b. Prisoners there mostly had to dig tank traps. It is not exactly known when he has been sent back to Vught but fact is that he was there on 15 November 1943, from where he eventually was transferred to Westerbork on 21 March 1944. Two days later, on 23 March, Simon de Vries was deported to Auschwitz, together with another 598 prisoners. On arrival there on 25 or 26 March, Simon was sent onwards to Monowitz–Auschwitz III, where he eventually lost his life on 1 July 1944.
Also Simon’s wife Mietje Frank was arrested that 27 January 1943 and she arrived in the SS-concentration camp Vught, together with her husband, where she had to stay for a long time. Initially she was deployed in the furwork factory of Splitter, where hats, caps, cardigans and linings were made for officer coats. Later, Mietje de Vries-Frank was assigned to the Philips-Command, which was the 3rd large workshop opened in the camp, beside Escotex and Splitter.
Early 1943 Philips was asked whether they had useful work for the prisoners in the camp Vught. The first reaction of Frits Philips was negative as it would give the Germans the opportunity to let the outside world believe of a penal camp as a labour camp, where one normally worked. In the end he decided to comply with the German request, hoping that something could be done for the prisoners.
Mietje eventually has been put on transport to Auschwitz on 3 June 1944, together with the last 495 other Jewish prisoners of the Philips Command. She survived the Holocaust; after a number of wanderings through Germany, they were liberated in northern Germany by the Swedish Red Cross which enabled Mietje de Vries-Frank to return to Amsterdam in August 1945.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, archive card of Simon de Vries and Mietje Frank; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Simon de Vries and Mietje de Vries-Frank; website Joods Erfgoed Rotterdam/Moerdijk; website Wikipedia/Monowitz concentration camp; Wikipedia website jodentransporten vanuit Nederland; page 121 a.f. from “Mensen, Macht en mentaliteiten achter prikkeldraad”, an historical sociological study of the concentration camp Vught (1943-1944) by Marieke Meeuwenoord and the Arolson archives of ITS/Mietje de Vries-Frank.