Benjamin Bierman was the 2nd of the four children from the second marriage of Levie Bierman, who as the widower of Sara Italiaander, remarried on 31 May 1911 the daughter of Wolf Abraham Jas and Hendrika Abraham Woudstra, the 27-year old Heintje Jas.
Benjamin was born on 18 June 1913 in Amsterdam and he was a diamond polisher by profession. On 10 September 1941 he married Celine Naarden, who was born on 16 April 1919 as a daughter of Mozes Narden and Lena Turfreijer. Celine Naarden was a seamstress by profession.
After Benjamin and Celine were married they lived at Laing’s Nekstraat 12 2nd floor, but moved already soon – in August 1941 to Afrikanerplein 28 2nd stock in Amsterdam-East. But one year later, in August 1942, they moved again back to Laing’s Nekstraat 12 2nd floor, where on the 1st floor Benjamin’s parents Levie Bierman and Heintje Jas lived lived and in the 3rd stok Celine’s parents Mozes Naarden and Lena Turfreijer.
From the notes on the Jewish Council registration card of Benjamin Bierman is to conclude that Benjamin in 1942 – most likely somewhere in spring – has been put to work in one of the so-called Jewish labour camps in the Northern Netherlands. But when the Germans liquidated all Jewish labour camps on 3 October 1942, and all forced labourers ended up then in Westerbork, also Benjamin Bierman has arrived there.
His wife Celina was a seamstress and had a “Sperre because of Wehrmacht”. She was not in Westerbork but still has made a request on 18 December 1942 to release her husband from Westerbork because of her Sperre. Her request was granted and it appeared that “on 29 December 1942 Benjamin occurred on a dismissal list, with another 209 persons but had to wait for his turn”.
But then it appeared that Benjamin and his wife Celine has been sent on 15 January 1943 to the new built concentration camp in Vught, which was still under construction. They belonged to the first group of prisoners who were forced to complete the camp themselves. Later, Celine as a seamstress, ended up in the camp at the Elion company, where she worked till 15 November 1943, the date on which she was put on a direct transport from Vught to Auschwitz with in total 1149 deportees. In the end, Celine Bierman-Naarden lost her life somewhere in the vicinity of Auschwitz on 31 January 1944.
After entry in Vught, her husband Benjamin Bierman, was added at some point to the Philips Command and months later than his wife, transferred from Vught to Westerbork on 8 March 1944, where he ended up in barrack 85. On 23 March 1944, he was put on a transport with 600 other deportees to Auschwitz, which must have been arrived there 25 or 26 March 1944. And it appeared from other documents, that Benjamin Bierman stayed in Auschwitz about one year but it is unknown were exactly he has been.
From a Dutch Red Cross publication edited in 1953, regarding “Evacuation transports from the Auschwitz-Complex”, it became clear that Benjamin Bierman was added to such an evacuation transport to concentration camp Dachau on 18 January 1945, where he has arrived and registered on 28 January 1945. The “evacuation” went on foot via Gross Rosen to Gleiwitz and from there on ± 20 January by train to Dachau. The prisoners of this evacuation transport came from the camps Auschwitz, Monowitz, Birkenau, the Kanada Command and from the Labour Command Buna Werke.
A few summary documents from the Dachau concentration camp also show that Benjamin Bierman stayed there in the so-called “Waldlager V” (Forrest Camp V) and the Dutch Red Cross stated after the war on his Jewish Council card still present that he returned from Dachau on 7 July 1945 in Amsterdam. He survived the Holocaust, remarried after the war and had two children.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, archive cards of Benjamin Bierman and Celine Naarden; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Benjamin Bierman and Celine Bierman-Naarden; website ITS Arolson, camp cards Vught of Benjamin Bierman and Celine Naaarden, registration 28 January 1945 of Benjamin Bierman in Dachau; the Red Cross publication Auschwitz volumel VI/evacuatietransports; the wikipedia website jodentransporten vanuit Nederland and the death certificate of Celine Naarden/nr. 450 from the A-register 84-folio 77 dated 24 Augustus 1951.