Biography

About Eliazer Joachim Peper, his sister Sara and her daughter Sophia Peper.

Eliazer Joachim Peper, born 19 January 1893, was the youngest son of Joachim Peper and Sophia Barmes. He was brilliant polisher by profession en he was also known as Eduard peper. His elder sister Sara, also known as Stella, was unmarried, like himself, but in 1917 she gave birth in Amsterdam to a daughter named Sophia. When his parents, Joachim Peper and his wife Sophia Barmes left Amsterdam for Antwerp in August 1921, Eliazer Joachim, his sister Sara and also the little Sophia also went along.

Up from August 1921 till in the year 1924, Eliazer Joachim, his sister Sara and niece Sophia stayed in Antwerp, Berchem and Wilrijk and they lived among others at Statieplein 10, in the Lange Beeldekensstraat 3, the Cobdenstraat 12 and the Gulden Vliesstraat 38. In 1923 they were unsubscribed “ex officio” from the Peoples Registry of Amsterdam with the notation “presumably to Antwerp”. However, at some point, in of after 1924, all travelled from Antwerp to Paris. There, their mother Sophia Peper-Barmes passed away on 31 July 1930.

However, already early September 1928, Sara and her daughter Sophia returned to the Netherlands and they went living in Den Haag at the address Stationsweg 75a. In 1929 they left again to Amsterdam, reason why they were unsubscribed “ex officio” from Den Haag but in September 1931, they were back again in Den Haag at the address Weteringkade 120. They turned out then to have come back from Paris. To earn a living, Sara worked as a couturière, room renter and pedicurist and her daughter worked as sales lady in Den Haag.

After some more removals in Den Haag, Sara left for Tweede Jan Steenstraat 48 in Amsterdam on 31 May 1937. There her brother Eliazer Joachim lived since February 1937. Her father Joachim Peper had returned from Wilrijk to Amsterdam in March 1937 with his new wife and they got married in August 1937. After shuttling back and forth a few times between Tweede Jan Steenstraat 48 and Den Haag, the last address of Sara and her daughter Sophia in Den Haag was Adelheidstraat 45.

On 17 July 1943, Sara and her daughter Sophia were arrested in Den Haag and carried off to Westerbork, where both ended up in barrack 97 and on 20 July they were both deported to Sobibor. On arrival on 23 July 1943, Sara Peper and her daughter Sophia Peper were immediately killed in the gas chambers of Sobibor.

Eliazer Joachim Peper returned already from Paris in the Netherlands on 23 October 1933 and he then lived in the Lyonnetstraat 8 in Den Haag with his sister Sara – also named Stella. She lived there already since September 1932 till 25 June 1935. And when she then moved to Jan van Riebeekstraat 83 in Den Haag, her brother moved along with her. On 3 December 1936, Eliazer Joachim left for Paris before returning from there to Amsterdam, where he ended up on the Kloveniersburgwal 125. In February 1937 Eliazer moved into a house in the Tweede Jan Steenstraat 48 in Amsterdam, where also his sister Sara would stay regularly.

In 1938 Eliazer Joachim moved to Hemonystraat 27 3rd floor and in 1939 to Tweede Jan van der Heijdenstraat 43 2nd floor. He was already acquainted then with Chaja Gurke, who was divorced from the Polish Abram Moisze Bialek in Den Haag in April 1939. In July 1939, Chaja Gurke with her three children moved in with Eliazer Joachim Peper and on 29 May 1940 they got married in Amsterdam.

On Sunday 20 June 1943, the Germans held a large and secretly prepared raid, where ultimately more than 5500 Jews were arrested and carried off to Westerbork. Also Eliezer Joachim Peper and his wife Chaja Gurke were victims of this raid. For unknown reasons yet, Eliazer Joachim ended up in the penal barrack 67 while his wife was put in barrack 58. Three weeks later, on 13 July, both were put on transport to Sobibor and on arrival on 16 July 1943, immediately killed in the gas chambers there.

Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Joachim Peper and Eliazer Joachim Peper, archive cards of Eliazer Joachim Peper and Chaja Gurke; the Municipal Archive of Den Haag, Peoples Registry/family registration cards of Sara Stella Peper; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Eliazer Joachim Peper, Chaja Peper-Gurke, Sara Peper and Sophia Peper; certificates of death made out in Den Haag for Sara Peper, nr. C1640 dated 30 June 1950 and for Sophia Peper, nr. C1644 dated 30 June 1950 and the Dossier of Foreigners of the City of Antwerp, nr. 166793 image 609-612

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