Estella Brandon was a daughter of Joseph Brandon and Klaartje Roe. She was born in Amsterdam on 1 November 1902 at Houtkopersburgwal 16, but moved with her parents and sister Margaretha to Henriette Ronnerplein 8 2nd floor in Amsterdam-Zuid in June 1931. Her brothers Jacob and Isidore had already married in 1928 and 1929 and from then on they no longer lived “at home” but at their own address.
When Estella was still unmarried, she worked as an office clerk. On 19 February 1936, she married David Bokkie, a son of Samuel Bokkie and Betje Walvis, in Amsterdam. David was born on 5 March 1895 in Amsterdam and worked as a brilliant cutter but later also as a sales representative in leather goods. After a number of moves in Amsterdam by David Bokkie in his previous marriage, David and Estella lived from March 1936 at Henriette Ronnerplein 10 2nd floor in Amsterdam South, also their last known address. They had no children.
David was born with the surname "Bokkie", but in August 1939 David changed his surname from "Bokkie" to "De Bock". As David Bokkie, he was admitted on 31 March 1910 as an apprentice brilliant cutter to the ANDB, the General Dutch Diamond Workers' Union. The training period was successfully completed on 24 April 1912 and David worked as a brilliant cutter's assistant in section 2.
Between April and June he stayed in Antwerp, but returned to Amsterdam where he then became a brilliant cutter at ANDB in section 3. On 9 January 1942 David – now named “De Bock”, terminated his membership in the ANDB but unknown is whether he became mandatory a member of the new Jewish Diamond Union “Betsalel” afterwards.
On 24 July 1942, David de Bock was provisionally exempted from deportation and "Arbeitseinsatz" in “The East” because he was given a job at the General Service of the Jewish Council. He did not have an official “Sperre”, but nevertheless he and his wife Estella Brandon had a temporary postponement of deportation.
On 7 August 1943, David and his wife Estella were arrested and carried off to the Vught concentration camp. David de Bock then ended up at Philips Kommando and Estella was employed as a seamstress, but she was also familiar with electrical assembly. David's registration card from Vught also shows that he was ill there, but not for how long and from what he suffered. On 5 May 1944 he was sent from Vught to Westerbork where he ended up in barrack 72.
However, David's wife Estella Brandon had been already deported on 15 November 1943 with 1148 other victims in a direct transport from Vught to Auschwitz. The Dutch Red Cross has investigated the fate of this transport and the conclusion in general is that after arrival in Auschwitz, usually young children (up to 15 years old), mothers with children, pregnant women, as well as weak, sick and older persons over ±50 years of age, were killed by gassing immediately after arrival.
On the other hand, a so-called “quarantine period” of 6 weeks was also imposed, after which again selections followed and those who were not employed then, still were sent to the gas chambers. For Estella Brandon, the factual final conclusion of that investigation applies that all women and children belonging to the transport of 15 November 1943, unless individually known otherwise, are considered to have died in Auschwitz-Birkenau no earlier than 1 January 1944 and no later than 31 January 1944. This last date is included on her death certificate no. 161 from A-register 28-folio 84v drawn up in Amsterdam on 17 August 1951.
David de Bock was transferred from Vught to Westerbork only on 5 May 1944, where he was housed in barrack 72. On 19 May 1944, he was deported in a combined transport from Westerbork to two different destinations: 453 people were deported to Auschwitz and 238 people, including David de Bock, to Bergen Belsen. The departure of this transport was recorded in the so-called Westerbork film. This transport also included 245 Roma and in Assen the train was coupled with 507 deportees from the 25th convoy from Mechelen to Auschwitz.
However, on 4 December 1944, David de Bock was deported again from Bergen Belsen to Oranienburg where, according to the death certificate, drawn up in Amsterdam on behalf of the Dutch Ministry of Justice, he died on 31 December 1944.
But according to the death registers of concentration camp Sachsenhausen, David de Bock died on 31 January 1945. This date differs from the official date of death as determined after the war by the Ministry of Justice. Only official and legal dates of death, as determined by the Ministry of Justice and as published in the Dutch Government Gazette, are currently placed on the website of the Joods Monument.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Joseph Brandon and David Bokkie (De Bock); archive cards of David de Bock and Estella Brandon; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Estella de Bock-Brandon and David de Bock; website ITS Arolson/camp cards Vught of Estella de Bock-Brandon and David de Bock; website ANDB membership cards/David Bokkie/de Bock; certificate of death for David de Bock nr. 286 from the A-register 86-folio 49v made out in Amsterdam on 14 September 1951 and deed 161 from the A-register 28-folio 84v drawn up in Amsterdam on 17 August 1951 for Estella de Bock-Brandon and the Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/15 November 1943 Vught-Auschwitz and 19 May 1944 Westerbork-Bergen Belsen - see also the Red Cross archives/Publication Auschwitz IV - the direct transport of 15 November 1943 Vught-Auschwitz