Louis Davids was the second son of Isaac Davids and Catharina Hart and was born on 3 August 1874 in Rotterdam. He earned his living as a docker in the port of Rotterdam. On 1 July 1903 he married in Rotterdam Jetje Moscoviter, a daughter of Leendert Moscoviter and Rachel Brandon.
The couple had eight children, namely Catharina, Rachel, Rebekka, Sientje, Alida, Leendert and the twin Isaac en Joseph. Rebekka died as a baby of five months old in December 1907; Sientje passed in October 1909, just one month old; Alida married a non-Jewish husband and survived the war and also Joseph and his family survived the Holocaust. The other four children, Catharina, Rachel, Leendert and Isaac were killed in the Shoah with their families, just as Louis Davids self and his wife Jetje Moscoviter.
Between October 1935 and November 1940 Louis and his wife Jetje lived in the Helmersstraat in Rotterdam at house numbers 22b, 39b and 17c. (close to “Loods 24” where deportations started). But they left Rotterdam for Amsterdam on 18 November 1940 and moved there into a house at Zwanenburgwal 22 2nd floor. On 16 April 1941, they moved again, now to Koningstraat 39 in Den Haag. There they moved again to Waterloostraat 38 and from there eventually carried off to Westerbork. Deportations in Den Haag started in August 1942 but it is not exactly known when Louis Davids was registered in Westerbork.
Louis Davids had arrived in Westerbork much earlier than his wife and from his registration card is to read that it was certain that he was already in Westerbork on 11 November 1942 and that he stayed there in barack 72. It is however unknown whether Louis was employed as forced labourer in one of the Jewish Labour Camps in the North of the Netherlands earlier in 1942, and that he had already arrived in Westerbork early October 1942 when the Jewish Labour Camps were abolished by the Germans.
Except that the registration card from the Jewish Council of Jetje Davids-Moscoviter confuses her exact date of birth, (24 July 1878 according her Rotterdam certificate of birth 1878.3202 C081v), it also appears that she was registered in Westerbork “only” on 6 March 1943 where she had to stay in barrack 85, months later than her husband.
Louis and Jetje eventually were put on transport on 17 March 1943 to Sobibor where on arrival there on 20 March 1943, they have been immediately killed in the gas chambers there.
Sources include the City Archive of Rotterdam, family registration card of Louis Davids; the City Archive of Amsterdam, archive card of Louis Davids; website wiewaswie.nl; website openarchieven.nl and the file cabinet of the Jewish Council. Registration cards of Louis Davids and Jetje Davids-Moscoviter.