Meijer Scharis was born in Amsterdam on 26 December 1890 and a son of Lodewijk Scharis and Rika de Haas. He was a decorator and upholsterer by trade. On 6 August 1914, he married Grietje van West, a daughter of the florist Salomon van West and Betje Lelie, in Zaandam. When they lived at Eerste Oosterparkstraat 136 in Amsterdam, the Scharis-van West couple had a daughter, Rika, who was born on 2 April 1916. She eventually survived the Holocaust.
Grietje van West, born 13 July 1893 in Amsterdam, died 28 November 1917 and was interred at the Jewish Cemetery in Diemen. On 23 May 1923 Meijer Scharis married again, this time to Hendrika Kiek, a daughter of the errand boy Isidore Kiek and Naatje Brilleslijper. The Scharis-Kiek couple subsequently lived at Rapenburgerstraat 70 in Amsterdam.
From the second marriage a son was born on 17 July 1924, Isidore Scharis. However, the family moved on 8 February 1930 to Vaartweg 25 in Hilversum, but also lived there in the Mgr. v.d. Weteringstraat 25. In Hilversum another son Lodewijk and two daughters were born; Lodewijk died 2 days after his birth. Then on 22 August 1934 Nanny was born and on 13 October 1938 her sister Martha.
Presumably on orders and pressure from the Germans, the family had to “evacuate” to Amsterdam in June 1942, where they then came to live at Weesperpoortstraat 136 (now Wibautstraat again). However, the registration cards of the Jewish Council show that both Meijer Scharis and his son Isidore were registered at Spoorbaanstraat 3 in Amsterdam, where Hendrika Kiek's father, Isidore Kiek and his daughter Esther Kiek lived at the time.
The Meijer Scharis family has been arrested and carried off to Westerbork at two different points of time, viz. Meijer and his son Isidore on 19 September 1942 and Hendrika Scharis-Kik with her two daughters Nanny and Martha on 8 April 1943. Hendrika and her two little daughters were put on transport to Sobibor on 13 April 1943 with more than 1200 other deportees, who were upon arrival on 16 April 1943 all murdered in the gas chambers. Hendrika Scharis-Kiek and her two daughters Nanny and Marta also met that fate. There were no survivors from that transport.
The 51-year-old Meijer Scharis and his 18-year-old son Isidore were taken to Westerbork on 19 September 1942 and deported to Auschwitz on the 21st. Arriving there on 24 September, 112 boys and men between the ages of 15 and 50 were selected for forced labor there, but Meijer was not selected. After arrival and selection, he was immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau that 24th of September 1942.
Isidore Scharis, however, met a different fate. He did belong to the group of 112 men who were selected for forced labor. It was not yet known after the war where he ended up and under what circumstances he died there and when he lost his life. What was known from research by the Dutch Red Cross and testimonies of survivors about this transport was that no one was heard from after 31 January 1943, from which it was deduced that of all 112 people who were forced in labor, none were alive. (just read also: Móre about the 21 September 1942 transport).
The Dutch authorities then commissioned the Municipality of Hilversum to draw up a death certificate for Isidore Scharis, which, after confirmation by the Ministry of Justice, states that Isidore Scharis died on 31 January 1943 in Auschwitz. However, from the “Sterbebücher” of Auschwitz - the death books that became available not too long ago, it appears that Isidore Scharis was already murdered on 24 October 1942 in Auschwitz. Nevertheless, the legally established date of death of 31 January 1943 is adhered to on the Jewish Monument.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cared of Saloon van West and Meijer Scharis; website stenenarchief.nl/grave Grietje van West; website Open Archieven.nl/Meijer Scharis x Grietje van West x Hendrika Kiek; the Amsterdam birth certificate nr. 3913 from 1916 for Rika Scharis; Amsterdam archive cards of Hendrika Kiek, Nanny and Martha Scharis; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Meijer Scharis, Isidore Scharis, Hendrika Scharis-Kiek, Nanny Scharis and Martha Scharis; the Civil Registry of Hilversum, death certificates for Meijer Scharis, nr. 862 and for Isidore Scharis nr. 861, both made out on 13 October 1950 and an addition of a visitor of the website.