Jacob Coster, a son of Barend Coster and Betje van Coevorden, was born in Rotterdam on 29 March 1912. His father runned a hat- and cap store in Rotterdam and Jacob earned his money as a merchant.
On 4 September 1940 he married Belia Meijer in Rotterdam, a daughter of Izaäc Meijer and Saartje Martiz. Belia was born in Gorinchem on 27 February 1917 and worked as a factory worker.
On 29 August 1930 the Meijer family moved from Gorinchem to Rotterdam , where they came living in the Kipstraat 91. Jacob Coster however, lived still at home with his parents in the Noordmolenstraat 8b in Rotterdam; since early February 1936 the Coster family moved into a house in the Vlaggemanstraat 26a.
However, as newlyweds, Jacob and Belia moved into an own house in the Bergpolderstraat 32a in Rotterdam-Noord on 4 September 1940. They resided there till the moment that both were registered on 31 July 1942 in Westerbork. They had no children.
Undoubtedly they belonged to the first group of 2000 Rotterdammers who received a call for “the work expansion under police supervision in Germany”, the Arbeitseinsatz, for which ultimately “only” 1100 people registered. For a medical examination they had to go to the transit camp Westerbork, station Hooghalen, for which they had to be present on 30 July 1942 at 6 p.m. in the assembly point Rotterdam, Entrepotstraat, Loods 24.”
The first transport from Loods 24 with 1100 people, including Jacob Coster and his wife Belia Coster-Meijer, left in the night of 30 to 31 July 1942. After arrival in Westerbork, Jacob and Belia were deported to Auschwitz on 3 August 1942, a transport of only persons from Loods 24, 493 women and 520 men, a total of 1013 deportees. Of the 2000 people called up, 900 stayed at home or went into hiding.
On arrival in Auschwitz, ±5 August, it soon became clear that all had ended up in an inhumane regime full of hardship, where Jacob and Belia and others could not survive long. It is not known where Jacob came to work and what kind of work Belia had to do.
However, the preserved "Sterbebücher" (death records) from Auschwitz shows that Jacob Coster was already murdered on 31 August 1942 in Auschwitz. This was not yet known after the war and the Dutch authorities determined, partly on the basis of survivors' testimonies and research, that Jacob Coster could no longer be alive after 30 September 1942. The municipality of Rotterdam was then instructed to draw up a death certificate for Jacob Coster, which states that he died on 30 September 1942 in Auschwitz.
It is also unknown when Belia Coster-Meijer exactly has lost her life. That is why the authorities in the Netherlands established after the war that Belia Coster-Meijer died on 30 September 1942, of which the municipality of Rotterdam has drawn up a death certificate.
Sources include the City archive of Rotterdam, family registration cards of Barend Coster, Jacob Coster 1851 and Izaäc Meijer; website joodserfgoed Rotterdam/Loods 24 (dutch language only); the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Jacob Coster and Belia Coster-Meijer; website Memorial & Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau/Auschwitz Prisoners; the Municipality of Rotterdam/death certificate for Jacob Coster no.1950/1530 dated 30 June 1950-folio 48 and for Belia Coster Meijer no.1950/1852 dated 30 June 1950-folio 103.