Both the sons of Isidore Ephraim and Lea Vos, Salomon Jacques and Andries Ephraim, were called-up in July 1942 for the so-called “provision of additional work in Germany” the “Arbeitseinsatz”. They reported both in Westerbork and were deported together to Auschwitz on 21 July 1942. Salomon Jacques was a butcher by profession and Andries was a bookbinder.
Upon arrival in Auschwitz, ±24 July, both were put to work as forced labourers, where they ended up in inhumane circumstances. The archives of the State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau have shown that Salomon Jacques Ephraim ended up at some point in the infectious diseases department in block 20, the prison hospital of Auschwitz I.
Inmates were admitted to that ward who suffered from typhoid, starvation, diarrhea, tuberculosis, meningitis, erysipelas or from general weakness. These prisoners had different fates. Many of them were chosen to be exterminated in numerous selections made by the “Lagerarzt” - camp doctor - in hospital rooms. They were slain in one room on the ground floor of block 20 by means of phenol injections.
It turned out that the name of Salomon Jacques Ephraim also appears in the records of the morgue of Auschwitz I, but it could not be ascertained when exactly Salomon Jacques Ephraim was murdered there in block 20. The name of the other son of Isidore Ephraim and Lea Vos, Andries Ephraim also appears in the archives of Auschwitz. The death registers of Auschwitz show that Andries Ephraim was murdered there on 17 September 1942. Because this was not yet known to the Dutch authorities after the war, the Ministry of Justice ordered the Municipality of Amsterdam to draw up death certificates for Salomon Jacques Ephraim and Andries Ephraim, in which it was established that both have died in Auschwitz on 30 September 1942.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card of Isidore Ephraim, archive cards of Salomon Jacques Ephraim and Andries Ephraim; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Salomon Jacques Ephraim and Andries Ephraim; the archives of Auschwitz via the website Memorial and Museum Auschwitz Birkenau/Salomon Jacques Ephraim, Häftlingskrankenbau Auschwitz I - Block 20 and Leichenhalle/Mortuary, and Andries Ephraim and the certificates of death, made out in Amsterdam on 20 Juli 1950, no’s 577 and 576 from the A-register 42-folio 98verso for Salomon Jacques Ephraim and Andries Ephraim.