Lena van Kleef-van West

Lena van West was the youngest of the nine children of Hartog van West and Bloeme van West. She was born in Amsterdam on 16 May 1916 and she started working as a dressmaker. On 18 October 1939 she married Mozes van Kleef, who was a wallpaperer and upholsterer by trade. Mozes was born on 16 July 1915 in Amsterdam as the son of Salomon van Kleef and Saartje van Dam. The couple had no children.

Befor…

In addition, a Jokos file (number 51894) on this family is at the Amsterdam Municipal Archive. Access is subject to authorization from the Stichting Joods Maatschappelijk Werk.The Jokos file reveals that a claim was lodged for compensation for valuables surrendered to the Lippmann-Rosenthal looting bank (L-claim, number 2).

A letter remains that Lena van Kleef-van West wrote at Vught concentration camp.
Jewish Historical Museum, Documents collection, inv.nr 4237

This person is commemorated on a memorial in Vierhouten. More information on this memorial can be found (in Dutch) on the website of the Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei.

Deportation periods in 1943

Apart from the "Sobibor period" (2 March to 20 July 1943), two deportation periods can be distinguished in 1943, viz. the period from 11 January to 2 February 1943, in which 9 transports left directly for Auschwitz, viz. 8 from Westerbork and 1 from Apeldoorn (for the sake of brevity to be called "Spring transports 1943"), and the period from 24 August to 16 November 1…