Sara Sluijs, the daughter of Ezechiel Sluijs and Vrouwtje Bierman, was born on 5 December 1918 in the then still independent municipality of Watergraafsmeer, as the youngest of their two children. They then lived at the Nieuweweg 41 – who after annexation of Watergraafsmeer by Amsterdam in 1956 has been renamed into “Wethouder Frankeweg”. Sara started working as a seamstress but later she became a sales lady in a fashion store. She had an education of 3 year MULO, had her certificate for shorthand typist and was acquainted with the textile business. Before Sara was married, she lived with her parents and brother David in the Nieuwe Kerkstraat, at the Tugelaweg 36 1st floor in Amsterdam-East and per 18 June 1929 there at nr. 39 3rd stock.
On 23 September 1942 she married Jonas Schaap in Amsterdam, a son of Lion Schaap and Jitha Krant; he was born on 2 May 1916 in Hilversum and just as his father, he earned his money as a dealer in vegetables and/or fruit. Jonas lived with his parents in Hilversum at Zuiderweg 61 but per 15 January 1943 the Schaap family had to move to Amsterdam, where they ended up at Tugelaweg 17 1st floor. Since 6 May 1943, Jonas lived officially at nr. 39 3rd floor with his spouse Sara and her parents Ezechiel Sluijs and Vrouwtje Bierman.
Sara Sluijs had a function as a secretary of the board with the Jewish Council. Since 20 July 1942 she was employed at the General Secretariat of the Jewish Council, located at Lijnbaansgracht 356 and was “gesperrt” – exempted from deportation with exemption number 80056 and because of her exemption, also her parents were provisionally “postponed” up from early August 1942. However, Sara’s parents were arrested during the large-scale raid on 20 June 1943 and carried off to Westerbork and eventually murdered in Sobibor on 2 July 1943.
Jonas Schaap too had a Jewish Council exemption with exemption number 80055. Jonas was already employed at the Jewish Council since 15 August 1942 as a home visitor at the HAV department – “Hulp Aan Vertrekkenden”- Help to the Departing, and he had his I.D. from the Jewish Council with nr. 418. It is not unlikely that at the same time as his parents were arrested, he too has been arrested that 25th of May 1943 and carried off to Westerbork. But is very clear from his Jewish Council registration card that he has been dismissed in Westerbork on 17 July 1943, but not when he would have arrived there then.
After his dismissal from Westerbork, Jonas most likely went back to his wife Sara, who then still lived with her parents at Tugelaweg 39 3rd stock in Amsterdam-East, but Sara and Jonas left there on 12 August 1943 to Nieuwe Keizersgracht 110, where also the secretariat of the Dutch Israëlitic Poor Management was located. Per 11 September 1943 they both stayed at the address Weesperplein 1 (the old people home Joodsche Invalide) to end up eventually in the Hofmeyerstraat 1 in Amsterdam-East on 22 September 1943.
During the summer of 1943, a new kind of “Sperre”(exemption) was launched by the “Zentralstelle”: the “Ausnahme Bescheinigung.” These were the ultimate exemptions from deportation, before the entire Jewish Council has been liquidated and put on transport on 29 September 1943 and Amsterdam has been declared “Juden rein” – Jew free. Jonas Schaap and Sara Sluijs managed to obtain such an "Ausnahme Bescheinigung van der Laan" (Au-Be v.d.Laan). The "van der Laan" exemption was intended for people who had worked in the food supply. (And Jonas used to be a wholesaler in fruit).
It is not impossible after Jonas and Sara obtained that coveted “Ausnahme Bescheinigung”, they made efforts to escape further persecution. The Jewish Council regostratoion card of Sara Sluijs mentions the address Swammerdamstraat 7 1st floor in Amsterdam, where the synagogue of the Dutch-Jewish Community was located there on the ground floor. It is presumed that Sara and Jonas were arrested at that address on 9 October 1943 and taken to Westerbork, where they were then both imprisoned in the penal barracks 67.
On 19 October 1943 Jonas Schaap and Sara Schaap-Sluijs were put on transport to Auschwitz, where upon arrival there on 22 October 1943 Sara was immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Jonas Schaap however was selected for forced labour upon arrival at the “Rampe”- platform – but it is unkown where eventually he has ended up, nor the exact date that he has lost his life. The Dutch Authorities therefore have established after the war – also based on testimonials from survivors, repatriates, researches and other information, that Jonas Schaap no longer could be alive after 31 March 1944. The Municpality of Amsterdam then has been commissioned to draw up a death certificate for Jonas Schaap, in which was established that he has died on 31 March 1944 (somewhere) in Poland.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, archive cards of Lion Schaap, Ezechiel Sluijs, Jonas Schaap and Sara Sluijs; Amsterdam residence cards of Swammerdamstraat 7; website Joodsamsterdam.nl/Nieuwe Keizersgracht 110; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Lion Schaap, Jitha Schaap-Krant, Jonas Schaap, Sara Schaap-Sluijs and the Wikipedia website jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl.