Esther and Rosa Ritmeester were twin sisters. Both were born on 17 August 1918 in Amsterdam as daughters of Jechiël Ritmeester and Elisabeth Brandon. Both sisters still lived at home with their parents at Lepelstraat 2, 2nd floor, were not married and both worked as seamstresses/lingerie seamstresses. They had an older sister Rachel and three brothers, namely: Isaac, David and Philip. In 1920 another brother David was born, but he died a month after his birth.
Together with their brother Isaac, they had to prepare for transport to Westerbork from Amsterdam Central Station on 19 July 1942. The train would leave at 2:16 am that night. But for unknown reasons, Rosa and Ester Ritmeester were removed from the transport list at the last minute so they could return to their home.
But on 10 February 1943, less than a month after the Vught concentration camp had been opened but still had to be completed, the sisters Esther and Rosa Ritmeester were arrested and taken to that new camp near 's Hertogenbosch, where they were employed as seamstresses at the company. Elion. In camp Vught they stayed in barrack 34A and were only deported to Auschwitz in a direct transport from Vught on 15 November 1943.
The conclusions of the post-war investigation by the Dutch Red Cross into, among other things, the deportation transports to Auschwitz in 1943, including the transport from Vught to Auschwitz on 15 November 1943, showed that all women and children belonging to the transport of 15 November 1943, unless individually known otherwise, are deemed to have died in Auschwitz-Birkenau no earlier than 1 January 1944 and no later than 31 January 1944.
Taking into account that witness statements unanimously reported that already in the first weeks of the stay in Auschwitz, a very large number of women died of typhoid, dysentery and other diseases during the "quarantine". After the "quarantine" and the many selections, just a few remaining women were put to work in Auschwitz-Birkenau, of which the time of death of some of these women possibly still could be determined individually.
The precise date in January on which the children and the women, who had children with them, were selected for the gas chambers could not be determined. Furthermore, statements show that only 5 well-known women survived the selections of January 1944. The conclusion must therefore be that all other women, and also the children, had died no later than 31 January 1944 as a result of illness, exhaustion, gassing or otherwise.
Because the exact date of death of Esther and Rosa Ritmeester is not known, the Dutch Authorities determined and concluded after the war, partly based on the above mentioned, that Esther and Rosa Ritmeester could no longer be alive after 15 January 1944. The municipality of Amsterdam was then instructed to draw up death certificates for both, stating that Rosa Ritmeester as well Esther Ritmeester died in Auschwitz on 15 January 1944.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Jechiël Ritmeester (1887); archive cards of Esther Ritmeester and Rosa Ritmeester; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Esther Ritmeester and Rosa Ritmeester; the archive of the Red Cross, transportlist 19 July 1942 Amsterdam-Westerbork with Isaac, Esther and Rosa Ritmeester; website ITS Arolson/canp cards Vught of Esther and Rosa Ritmeester; the publication Auschwitz IV van October 1953 from the Dutch Red Cross/deportation transports in 1943/transport of 15 November 1943; the Wikipedia website Jew transports from the Netherlands/15 Nov 1943 and the death certificates for Rosa: from the Amsterdam A-register 94-folio 101verso deed 598 dated 22 February 1952 and for Esther from A-register 94-folio 101 deed 597 dated 22 February 1952.