Biography

About Pierre Arpels

Pierre Arpels, barber, was a son of Izak Arpels and Regina Polak. He was born in 1917 but since 1921 he lived alone with his mother. His father has left his family and went to Antwerp, where he cohabited with a non-Jewish woman. He has been deported from Mechelen to Auschwitz with Convoy XXI from 19 July 1943 and presumably killed upon arrival there on 21 July 1943.

Al that time, Pierre lived togehter with his mother at Ruyschstraat 105 II in Amsterdam. On 28 August 1941 Lena de  Groot from Rapenburgstraat 106 II came living in with Pierre and his mother and on 22 April 1942, Pierre and Lena got married in Amsterdam. She was a daughter of Salomon de Groot en Naatje Arbeid.

On13 July 1942 Pierre and his wife arrived at Camp Westerbork, deported "to the East" on16 July 1942 and eventually both were killed in Auschwitz on 30 September 1942.

City Archive of Amsterdam, archive cards of Pierre Arpels and Lena de Groot; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council of Amsterdam, records of Pierre Arpels and Lena de Groot.