Abraham Koopman was a son of Isaac Emanuel Machiel Koopman (1813-1875) and Rebecca Elias Pothuis (1825-1881). He was born in Amsterdam on 8 July 1870 and became a brilliant cutter by profession. On 6 July 1916 he married his niece Elisabeth van Praag, a daughter of Wolf van Praag and Marianne Koopman. She was born on 1 May 1886. Abraham and Elisabeth had no children
From 21 July 1906, Abraham Koopman became a member of the ANDB, the General Dutch Diamond Workers' Union. He became a member of department 2, brilliant cutting. On 23 April 1922, Abraham left for Antwerp without informing the Union. He was readmitted as a member on 22 May 1922, after the board of the Union had consulted and decided that Abraham Koopman's membership could be considered as uninterrupted. When he retired on 1 October 1940, the interruption had no consequences for his pension.
Abraham was born at St. Antoniebreestraat 98 but before his marriage, he lived at Miguelstraat 52 1st floor. After he got married, Abraham and Elisabeth moved into a living space at Commelinstraat 20 2nd level and moved to house no. 38 2nd floor on 28 July 1927 but they left on 31 March 1930 for Waldecklaan 40 in Hilversum. However, the marriage did not last and on 20 January 1933 the marriage was dissolved by divorce in Amsterdam.
Abraham had already moved from Hilversum to Amsterdam on 3 October 1932, where he found a home with Bernard Cohen and his wife at Sarphatistraat 127 2nf floor. He continued to live there until he was able to move into the ground floor (house 127) on 13 May 1941. His ex, Elisabeth van Praag, stayed in Hilversum, but moved to Franklinstraat 5 in 1932. She stayed there until she could move to her brother Isaäc van Praag in Amsterdam on 15 October 1935, who lived with his wife Sara Coe at Scheldestraat 8 where they ran, as branch managers, a branch of the butter and cheese trade of the M.L. de Lange company.
Elisabeth became a housekeeper, still lived at various addresses in the city and her last known address was Noorder Amstellaan 72 ground level, where she found home with the widower Salomon Kan. Salomon was born in Meppel in 1868, married in 1889 to Rika Wolff in Onstwedde, but who died in Haarlem in 1935. Salomon Kan had five children with Rika Wolff, the youngest of whom was born in 1902.
Salomon Kan stayed in the Joodsche Invalide at Weesperplein 1 from 9 February1943, but the next month he had to move to Nieuwe Kerkstraat 93 2nd floor. On 20 March 1943, Salomon was taken to Westerbork where he ended up in sick barrack 82. On 23 March 1943 he was deported to Sobibor and immediately gassed upon arrival on 26 March 1943.
Elisabeth van Praag remained behind in the Noorder Amstellaan where she was arrested on 5 May 1944 and taken to Westerbork where she was locked up in penal barrack 67 (possibly for reasons of attempts to go into hiding). On 19 May 1944 she was deported to Auschwitz and upon arrival there on 22 May 1944, she was immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz Birkenau.
Abraham Koopman, together with his brother Elias Koopman, were arrested on 14 January 1943 and sent to concentration camp Vught, where his brother Elias died on 16 January 1943. Abraham was then sent back from Vught to Westerbork on the night of 28 to 29 January 1943 and deported to Auschwitz on 2 February. Three days later, Abraham Koopman was murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau on 5 February 1943.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Abraham Koopman, Wolf van Praag and Elisabeth van Praag; archive cards of Abraham Koopman, Elisabeth van Praag and Salomon Kan; residence cards of Amsterdam/Commelinstraat 38 and Sarphatistraat 127/Abraham Koopman; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Abraham Koopman and Elias Koopman; website ITS Arolson/camp card Vught of Abraham Koopman and the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/2 February 1943.