Israël van der Sluis was a son of Jacob van der Sluis and Juutje Overweg. He was born on 25 August 1885 in Zwartsluis and had four other brothers, namely Salomon, Simon, Maurits and Hartog Levie. Only Salomon and Hartog Levie have survived the Holocaust, all others were killed during the Shoah.
Israël van der Sluis married on 31 May 1922 in Den Haag Betje Cohen, a daughter of Samuel Cohen and Esther Engers and she was born in Groningen on 12 September 1895. Except her parents, the Cohen family consisted further of her brothersr Leonard, Jacques and Moritz and her sisters Bertha Hélène and Rosina, Not only Betje, but also her brother Jacques has been killed in the Shoah. Betje's other siblings passed away in Den Haag, even before the outbreak of the war of just in the beginning of it.
Israël van der Sluis and Betje Cohen had two children: Jacob in February 1923 in Haarlem, who died there already on 13 July 1923, only five months old. One year later, again a son was born in Haarlem, namely Johnny on 4 August 1924.
Israël van der Sluis started his career as a commercial traveller in Meppel. He then lived in for six months with his brother Simon at Prinsengracht 81 there, but left for Rotterdam on 23 July 1909. There he found a job as shop assistant and lodgings at among others at Kruiskade 59a, the Van Oldenbarneveltstraat 85b and in the Hugo de Grootstraat 57d with “Cats”. On 30 October 1913 he moved from Rotterdam to Amsterdam, where he ended up in the Spuistraat 163.
He married in 1922 in Den Haag Betje Cohen, but moved afterwards to the Molenaerstraat 30A in Haarlem, located in the Kleverpark area, where also both their children were born. Israël van der Sluis worked those years as a warehouse clerk. In later years, the family once more moved to Leiden, where they moved into a house at Korte Mare 23, which became also their last known address in the Netherlands.
On 6 March 1943 Israël and his wife Betje were carried off to Westerbork. From notes on their registration cards from the Jewish Council Cartotheque, it appeared that Betje van der Sluis-Cohen was taken ill in the Elizbeth Hospital in Leiden, and that she was hospitalized again in barrack 85 on arrival in Westerbork, but the diagnosis is unknown.
In Westerbork, her husband had to stay in barrack 82, but their luggage was dragged back and forth countless times during the period from arrival there until their deportation: from barrack 82 to 85, to 84 and then from 82b for Betje to 58 and for Israël to 64 but eventually Betje’s luggage was to be found in barrack 5, the womens department of the hospital in Westerbork.
Finally, after more than eight week, on 27 April 1943, when Betje was released from the hospital, obviously as completely recovered, they were both put on transport to Sobibor and on arrival there on 30 April 1943 immediately killed in the gas chambers there.
Sources include the Peoples Registry of Meppel/Israël van der Sluis; the City Archive of Rotterdam/registration card peoples registry of Israël van de Sluis; wedding certificate Van der Sluis/Cohen from Den Haag; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Israël van der Sluis and Betje van der Sluis-Cohen; certificates of death, made out in Leiden, no's 631 and 632 dated 7 July 1949 for Israël van der Sluis and Betje Cohen and additions of visitors of the website.