Willem Agsteribbe was a son of Emanuel Agsteribbe and Hanna Halverstad and was born on 3 January 1889 in Amsterdam. On 1 November 1911 he married Bertina van West in Amsterdam, who was born there on 15 July 1888 as a daughter of Benjamin van Wesat and Rachel Vrachtdoender. The couple had five children, viz. Rachel in September 1912, Anna in April 1914, Greta in March 1916, Emanuel in March 1918 and Benjamin in March 1921.
Willem Agsteribbe earned his money as an errand boy but after his marriage in November 1911, as a cook and dancing master. Willem and his wife Bertina van West then lived at Houtkopersburgwal 8. In March 1916 they moved to Waterlooplein 35 and in May 1931 to Zwanenburgwal 28. In 1935 the family moved to Nieuwe Herengracht 79 and in June 1937 to nr. 159 at the same canal, where Willen and his wife Bertina runned an boarding house.
Except the lodgers, the family too lived at the Nieuwe Herenracht. Up from 1938, also Willem’s unmarried sister Sara Agsteribbe came living in there; she was born on 7 June 1883. When Sara left her parental house of Emanuel Agsteribbe, she lived at Lange Houtstraat 28 and was working as a cleaning lady. At some point however she was declared “disabled” and received a benefit in the context of the disability law. an invalidity pension.
On 15 June 1927 Sara moved to Lange Houtstraat 15 3rd floor and on 13 February 1928 to Waterlooplein 33. In October 1931 she found living space at Korte Houtstraat 20 1st floor and up from 1938, she lived in the boarding house of het brother and sister-in-law. But Sara Agsteribbe has been deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz on 18 January 1943 and upon arrival there on 21 January 1943, murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Willem Agsteribbe and his wife were carried off to Westerbork on 9 February 1943 Until then, his “Sperre” had saved him and his wife Bertina from deportation. As operator of “Rest Home Agsteribbe”, he was exempted from deportation “because of function”, and therefore also his wife. According to the data stated on his registration card during registration with the Jewish Council in 1941, Willem Agsteribbe was already active from 15 September 1935 as operator of his Rest Home at Nieuwe Herengracht 159 ground floor.
After Willem and Bertina had arrived in Westerbork, they stayed in barrack 55, awaiting their deportation, which followed on 16 February 1943 to Auschwitz, together with another 1106 victims. After arrival there, selections followed where "fit persons" were selected for forced labor but many were murdered immediately upon arrival on 19 February 1943 in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Also Willem Agsteribbe and his wife Bertina Agsteribbe-van West belonged to the latter group of persons.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Willem Agsteribbe and Sara Agsteribbe; Closed family registration cards/Benjamin van West(1860); archive cards of Willem Agsteribbe, Bertina van West and Sara Agsteribbe; the file cabinet of the Jewish Concil, registration cards of Willem Agsteribbe, Bertina Agsteribbe-van West and Sara Agsteribbe and the Wikipedia website jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl