Of the three children of Ludovicus Oudkerk and Elsje Oudkerk, Benjamin Roeland was the youngest and the only one from this family who survived the Holocaust. He was born on 4 February 1913 in Sint Denijs, Belgium and eventually became a pastry chef by profession. Benjamin Roeland completed 3 years of the 5-year HBS but subsequently obtained his pastry chef diploma.
With his parents, brother Hermanus Ludovicus and sister Klara Freia, he came from Belgium to Amsterdam on 27 May 1919, at 1st Boerhaavestraat 10, but left on 20 October 1930 for Koningstraat 3 in Den Helder, returning home on 11 August 1938 to his parents in Amsterdam, who had now moved to the Ruyschstraat 45 ground floor.
After leaving for Antwerp again on 14 November, he returned to Ruyschstraat 45 on 8 June 1940. After 10 January 1941, all Jews in the Netherlands were obliged to register with the Jewish Council, Benjamin Roeland Oudkerk was “exempted from deportation (Gesperrt), due to function” on 10 July 1942. As a pastry chef he got a job at the Jewish Council's bread supply expedition. Benjamin Roeland was further characterized as “Liberal”.
On 2 September 1942 Benjamin Roeland Oudkerk married in Amsterdam at the age of 29 to Betje Kogel, then still 28 years old, born on 29 November 1913 in Breda as a daughtger of Elkan Kogel and Sara Johanna Haas.
However, Betje Kogel was employed since February 1938 at the Joles Hospital, located at Groot Heiligenland 27 in Haarlem. There was own personnel and one supplied kosher food. During the mandatory registrations of Jews in 1941, Betje Kogel was registered as Head of Housekeeping Joles Hospital. Because of that, she to was exempted from deportation till further notice (gesperrt bis auf weiteres). The Jewish Council further characterized her as “moderated ORT” (under rabincal supervison - kosher).
She continued to work in Haarlem until she was transferred from the Joles Hospital in Haarlem to the food supply department of the Jewish Council in Amsterdam on 16 April 1943. She was then registered on 11 June 1943 at the address of her husband, Benjamin Roeland Oudkerk, who lived with his parents at Ruyschstraat 45 huis.
In the summer of 1943, a very large proportion of Dutch Jews had already been deported, and during the roundup of 20 June more than 5500 Jews were arrested in Amsterdam and taken to Westerbork. This meant that the Jewish Council's right to exist for a proportional share was affected and that many Jewish Council functions and the associated Sperres were abolished. Subsequently, in the summer of 1943, a new form of Sperre was introduced by the Zentralstelle: the Ausnahme-Bescheinigung, the ultimate exemption of deportation.
Benjamin Roeland and his wife Betje also managed to obtain this very last exemption from deportation. In their case, the Jewish Council card added “Au-Be van der Laan” at the top, with a red outline, because of their work in the “food supply”.
The exemptions from deportation they had previously obtained, had the numbers 91295 and 87493 respectively for Benjamin and Betje. A stamp was placed in the identity card stating that the person concerned was exempted for the time being (bis auf weiteres) from labor in the “East”. ("Arbeitseinsatz).
That Sperre number was stated with the stamp in the I.D card and the Jewish Council registration card stated the Sperre number and the number of the I.D. card. Their Sperre-numbers regarding the provisional exemption (until further notice) from labor in the “East” were between the series numbered 80.000 to 100.000 and were in fact the actual Jewish Council stamps.
However, it cannot be deduced from the existing documents whether Benjamin Roeland and his wife Betje subsequently went into hiding or in what other way they managed to survive the Holocaust but they did! Benjamin Roeland was registered on 14 August 1945 at Mercatorplein 41 1st floor and Betje at Witte de Withstraat 1 3rd floor, both in Amsterdam-West, but soon after she was registered at the address of her husband on 14 August 1945 at Mercatorplein 41.
On 3 March 1950, Benjamin Roeland Oudkerk and Betje Oudkerk-Kogel decided to “make alyah” and emigrated to Haifa in Israel, where most likely they have died too. Nothing further has been known about them.
Sources include the Amsterdam City Archives, family registration of card Ludovicus Oudkerk; archive cards of Benjamin Roeland Oudkerk and Betje Kogel; the Breda City Archives/Breda Population Register with Elkan Kogel and his family; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Benjamin Roeland Oudkerk and Betje Oudkerk-Kogel; publication “Presumably on Transport”/Ausnahme Bescheinigung by Raymund Schütz and the Noord Holland Archives/under no. 11 The Dutch Israëlitic Joles Hospital Foundation (Dutch language only).