Marianne Schouten was a daughter of Barend Schouten and Saartje Halberstad. She was born on 16 February 1896 in Amsterdam and was a dressmaker by profession. Marianne married the warehouseman and bag stopper Jonas Polak on 30 May 1917, a son of Wolf Polak and Lientje Bed. Jonas and Marianne had two daughters: Lena in 1918 and Sara in 1922.
After the wedding was concluded, the newlywed couple lived in shortly with Marianne’s brother Jacob Schouten and his wife Keetje van West at Verwerstraat 23, from where they left for Jacob’s father Barens Schouten in September 1918, who then lived at Joden Houttuinen 72 2nd floor, and where their first child and daughter Lena was born.
In 1922, the Polak family lived at Weesperstraat 35, where their 2nd daughter Sara was born on 24 September. Their last known address in Amsterdam was Retiefstraat 110 1st floor, where they became neighbours again of Marianne’s brother Jacob Schouten and his wife Keetje van West after moving there.
Their daughters Lena and Sara both got married in 1942, respectively to Barend Winnik and Joseph Polak. The young couples were deported at summerend 1942 to Auschwitz where Lena and her husband Barend and also Sara and her husband Joseph were murdered.
Together with 1002 other victims, Jonas Polak and his wife Marianne Polak-Schouten were put on transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz on 18 September 1942. This transport arrived there on 21 September and upon arrival Marianne Polak-Schouten was immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Jonas Polak however was selected for “work”, but where he ended up and what kind of work he had to to is unknown, nor his exact date of death.
After the war, the Dutch Authorities have established, partly based on researches and testimonials of survivors, that Jonas Polak no longer could be alive after 31 December 1942. The Municipality of Amsterdam then was commissioned to draw up a certificate of death for Jonas Polak, in which has been concluded that he has died in Auschwitz on 31 December 1942.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Jonas Polak, Barend Schouten (1854) and Jacob Schouten (1889), archive cards of Jonas Polak and Marianne Shouten; residence card Retiefstraat 110 I Amsterdam with Jonas Polak; the Red Cross archives/transportlist 16/17 Sept 1942/Marianne Polak-Schouten; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Jonas Polak and Marianne Polak-Schouten; the Wikipedia website jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/18 Sept 1942; death certificate 413 dated 13 Oct 1950 from the A-register 54-folio 70verso and deed 472 dated 13 Oct 1950 from the a-register-folio 82verso.