Barend Dingsdag was a son of Levie Dingsdag and Mietje Theeboom. He was born in Amsterdam on 6 May 1910 and worked as upholsterer and wallpaperer. On 10 March 1937 he married Schoontje van der Veen in Amsterdam, who was born on 28 March 1903 as a daughter of Mozes van der Veen and Saartje Bont. Together Barend en Schoontje had a daughter, Mietje, who was born 7 June 1938.
Schoontje van der Veen was previously married to Salomon Sjouwerman, who was born in 1902, with whom she had two children. The eldest, Abraham, died in childhood, only 5 months old. The youngest, Sara, was murdered in Auschwitz in later years. However, the marriage of Schoontje and Salomon did not last and on 10 August 1934 the marriage was dissolved by divorce in Amsterdam.
In 1934 Barend Dingsdag lived with his parents at the Rapenburgerstraat but after being married he and his newely wed wife found living space in December 1937 with his brother-in-law and sister-in-law Philip de Vries and his wife Rachel van der Veen, who lived at Lepelstraat 2A in Amsterdam. But in February 1938 they moved to an own dwelling at Lepelstraat 8 1st floor. Sara Sjouwerman, the daughter from the 1st marriage of Schoontje van der Veen, lived in whith them. And in June 1938, there their daughter Mietje was born.
The entire Dingsdag family, also stepdaughter Sara Sjouwerman, was registered in Westerbork on 21 July 1942 and deported to Auschwitz on 24 July. This transport included “only” 519 deportees, several of whom were selected for “labour” on arrival. Also Barend Dingsdag; he was put to work in Auschwitz on ± 26 July and based on documents it is very likely that he ended up in the camp hospital which was located in blocks 21 and 28 in Auschwitz I. The "surgery department" was also located in that camp hospital, whose surgical ward books have been preserved.
It is clear from the documents currently available that Barend Dingsdag spent a long time in Auschwitz-Birkenau. On arrival he was given prisoner number 52430 and his surviving Personalbogen (camp-registration) states, in addition to name, address, place of residence, among other things the date of his arrest in Amsterdam and the date of entry into Auschwitz. A letter from him dated 30 January 1944 in Amsterdam was received from Birkenau, but the addressee is unknown. His wife Schoontje van der Veen, daughter Mietje and also his stepdaughter Sara Sjouwerman however were immediately taken to the gas chambers on 26 July 1942 and murdered.
On 18 January 1945, Barend Dingsdag was carried off in a so-called “evacuation transport” from the Auschwit-complex to concentration camp Buchenwald. Those evacuations were partly on foot, partly by train and became also known as the so-called “death marches”. On 26 January 1945, he arrived in Buchenwald, where, according to one of the preserved camp cards, he was given prisoner number 123871 as a Dutch Jew and as a political prisoner.
Further documents show that on 3 March 1945, Barend was sent from Buchenwald to one of the “Ak's” - Arbeitskommandos (Labor Commands) of the concentration camp Natzweiler, from where a number of Jewish prisoners were sent back again to the mothercamp (Buchenwald) on 3 April 1945, and where Barend Dingsdag lost his life on 7 April 1945.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Levie Dingsdag, Barend Dingsdag and Salomon Sjouwerman, archive cards of Barend Dingsdag and Schoontje van der Veen; Residence card of Amsterdam Lepelstraat 2a; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, regstration cards of Barend Dingsdag, Schoontje Dingsdag-van der Veen, Mietje Dingsdag and Sara Sjouwerman; the wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit nederland.nl; website ITS Arolson/camp cards of Barend Dingsdag from Auschwitz and Buchenwald; the Red Cross publication Auschwitz part VI/evacuation transports from Auschwitz and vicinity, page 42 nr. 8 and further and page 95 and further and the death certificate from Amsterdam for Barend Dingsdag, nr. 405 dated 20 December 1951 from the A-register 90-folio 69verso.