Duifje Kat was born in Amsterdam on 4 September 1888 as a daughter of Salomon Kat and Fanny Cohen-Kool. She married there on 19 May 1909 Michel Walvis, a son of Salomon Walvis and Dina Grishaver, who was born on 8 June 1889 in Amsterdam. Duifje and Michel had two children, viz. Dina on 11 March 1910 and Samuel on 12 October 1916.
Dina married Hijman Hakker in 1929 and had four children with him. All were deported to Auschwitz on 5 October 1942 and murdered there on 8 October 1942. Samuel was unmarried, and eventually died somewhere in Central Europe on 28 February 1943.
Michel was street-market vendor in haberdasheries. But he was also educated with the ANDB, the Dutch Diamond Union, as rose cutter and brilliant polisher. In May 1913 Michel Walvis left for Antwerp to find a job as a diamond worker and he was registered at the address Plantijnlei-Oost no. 96. There lived also the unmarried Hendrica van Kreeveld with het two children: Joseph, born 20 April 1910 and Lena, born on 12 March 1913. She lived there in a furnished room and Michel moved in with her and lived there with her in an adulterous relationship as husband and wife.
Hendrica van Kreeveld, who worked as a cleaning lady, was born on 21 January 1892 in Amsterdam as a daughter of Joseph Isaac van Kreeveld and Leentje Nikkelsberg. Michel’s lawful spouse Duifje Kat and his little daughter Dina then still lived at Joden Houttuinen 72 in Amsterdam.
But on 22 March 1914 also Duifje Walvis-Kat and daughter Dina Walvis arrived in Belgium and they lived at Korte Zavelstraat 24 in Antwerp. Michel Walvis then stayed already since 22 May 1913 at the address Plantijnlei-Oost no. 96. On 16 May 1914 had been ascertained formally and officially that Michel Walvis lived with Hendrica van Kreeveld as husband and wife in an adulterous relationship and has left his lawful wife Duifje Kat and his child.
Duifje then filed a complaint with the Antwerp Public Prosecutor’s Office against her husband, whom she accused of maintaining a concubine. It had not yet come to a court at the time, but on the other hand, the Antwerp Office of Foreigners also reported that the behavior of Miche Walvis and Hendrica van Kreeveld had not given rise to any complaints or comments.
Michel and his lawful wife Duifje and dauhter Dina then returned to Amsterdam in July 1914, where they could move into their former house at the address Joden Houttuinen 72 and where on 12 October 1915 their second child was born, who was named Samuel.
After their return in Amsterdam, Michel had soon left for another addres in the city in March 1915 and Duifje and Michel lived separately from each other. He lived shortly in the Valkenburgerstraat, but moved every few months to another address but at the end of 1916 he lived at Ben Viljoenstraat 3 in Amsterdam-East, where also other family and in-laws lived.
On 27 September 1919, Michel left Amsterdam again for Antwerp and Strasbourg (France). In November 1939 he lived again in Belgium, in Borgerhout and since August 1940 He lived again in an adulterous relationship with the unmarried Vrouwtje van West, a 39-year old daughter of Hartog van West and Bloeme van West.
Duifje Kat, who stayed behind at Joden Houttuinen 72 in Amsterdam, but in the mid-twenties had moved too to Ben Viljoenstraat 3, then tried to earn her living as a street market vendor. She applied for and received a market permit and stood with her stall on the Ten Kate market with woolen goods. Later, she traded “irregularly” and stood among others on the markets on Lindegracht and Westerstraat.
In July 1941 Duifje had moved to Blasiusstraat 102 3rd floor in Amsterdam-East but she was carried off from there on 20 March 1943 to Westerbork, where she ended up in barrack 61. On 23 March she was deported in the 4th transport to Sobibor, which contained 1250 victims in total. Upon arrival there all deportees, including Duifje Walvis-Kat, were immediately murdered in the gas chambers. There were no survivors.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, archive card of Duifje Kat and market permit of Duifje Walvis-Kat; Dossier of Foreigners of the Municipality of Borgerhout nr. 5782 for Michel Walvis and Duifje Kat; Dossier of Foreigners of the City of Antwerp nr 149632 for Michel Walvis and Duifje Kat; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Duifje Walvis-Kat and the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl.