Emanuel van West was the eldest of the three children of Joseph van West and Gracia Rodrigues Pereira. He was born on 13 March 1907 in Amsterdam and was usually called Willem. He was employed as window dresser in the fashion shop of Maison de Vries in the Kalverstraat in Amsterdam.
Willem married on 20 June 1934 in Amsterdam Esther Blitz, who was usually called Elly. She was born on 3 March 1908 in Amsterdam as a daughter of Salomon Blitz and Anna van Praag. She was a well known classical concert singer. After the wedding, they lived in the Uithoornstraat 7 in Amsterdam-South, but on 1 May 1940 they moved into a house in the Haarlemmermeerstraat 102 3rd floor in Amsterdam-West, where up from 13 May 1941 also Elly's parents, Salomon Blitz and Anna van Praag came living in. Willem and Elly had no children together.
Emanuel (Willem) van West had a “Sperre” from the Jewish Council – he was exempted from deportation for the time being and until further notice. He was working in the fuel trade of his father-in-law Salomon Blitz. The Germans had designated that business as a “Joods Lokaal”, a Jewish Business, only for Jews. Besides that, Willem was also youth leader in the BJZ, the Extracurricular Youth Care, which was one of the dozens of branches of the Jewish Council. And because of the “Sperre” from Willem, also his wife Elly was exempted from deportation until further notice.
But on 25 May 1943, the time had come. All exemptions were cancelled and Willem, Elly and her parents, but also his sister-in-law Juliette van West-Barmes, received a call for the so-called “Arbeitseinsatz” (provison of additional work in Germany), and had to report on a certain day at the Polderweg in Amsterdam-East. At the last minute, Willem’s sister-in-law Juliette had the opportunity to go into hiding, which she did but Willem, Elly and her parents have reported to the Polderweg.
Willem and Elly were carried off to Westerbork and ended up there in barrack 58. On 1 June both were put on transport to Sobibor, where on arrival on 4 June 1943, Esther (Elly) van West-Blitz has been killed immediately in the gas chambers there. However Emanuel (Willem) van West was one of the “lucky ones” who were able to leave the extermination camp of Sobibor. He was selected to cut peat – fuel for among others burning bodies in Sobibor – in camp Dorohucza, from where a last message from him was received on 7 September 1943, but where Emanuel van West also has lost his life on 30 November 1943.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Emanuel van West, Joseph van West and Salomon Blitz, archive cards of Emanuel van West and Esther Blitz; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Emanuel van Werst and Esther Blitz; the Wikipedia listing of jodentransporten vanuit Nederland and the certificate of death for Emanuel van West, nr. 364 dated 23 May 1950 from the A-register 34, folio 63.