Leon Tokkie, son of Emanuel Tokkie and Betje Salomon van der Stam, was born in Rotterdam on 29 April 1884 into a family of six children: his siblings were Sara, Salomon, Elisabeth, Joseph and Keetje. Only Joseph and Leon self, were killed during the Shoah. Salomon and Keetje passed away already before the war and Saartje and Elisabeth have survived the war.
Hendrika David, born on 7 April 1888 in Rotterdam as eldest daughter of Wolf David and Antonetta Andriessen, married there on 9 March 1910 Leon Tokkie. The couple had three children, namely Betje in 1911, Roza in 1917 and Yvonne in 1923. Only Roza survived the Holocaust; parents and both other children were killed during the Shoah.
After Leon and Hendrika were wed in March 1910, they went living in Den Haag in the Boekhorststraat 95 but moved in November 1916 to Emmakade 7. Leon earned his money as dealer in bicycles but they also runned a shop in ladies fashion articles. Between July 1918 and October 1920 they lived again in Rotterdam, in the Jonker Franschstraat 31b, but returned in Den Haag, they lived at Kanaalweg 106. Before they were finally registered on 27 October 1938 at the address Stille Veerkade 1, they had moved nine more times in Den Haag itself.
Meantime, their daughter Betje was married in Den Haag on 22 March 1933 to Joseph Sips and lived at their own addres in the Schoolstraat 9. Together with her little son Leon, she was killed on 29 October 1942 in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her husband ended up in concentration camp Monowitz, where he lost his life on 1 December 1942.
Their daughter Roza married on 1 October 1942 in Den Haag the 21-year old Abraham Katoen, who was born in Amsterdam. Both were deported to Auschwitz on 14 September 1943. Roza survived the Shoah and was able to return to Amsterdam, where she remarried in 1947 Gerard Binger, but whom she divorced in 1957. Her first husband Abraham Katoen did not survive the Shoah; after having performed hard labour for some months, he lost his life on 28 April 1944 in Auschwitz.
Their daughter Yvonne, born 9 June 1923, was already registered in Westerbork on 20 August 1942. Presumably she responded to the call for the so-called “provision of additional work in Germany – the Arbeitseinsatz” and was put on transport to Auschwitz the next day, on 21 August 1942. It is unknown were Yvonne has been put to work as forced labourer and when and where exactly she lost her life. Therfore, after the war the Dutch Ministry of Justice ordered the Municipality of Den Haag to draw up a certificate of death for Yvonne Tokkie, in which was established that she has died in Auschwitz on 30 September 1942.
At the time of the mandatory registration of all Jews in the Netherlands, Leon Tokkie and his wife Hendrika David were registered at the address Zuidwal 5, a street in the eponymous district Zuidwal in the old city centre of Den Haag, where the Stille Veerkade is located just around the courner.
Leon and his wife Hendrika were taken to Westerbork on 22 February 1943, where Leon ended up in barrack 61 but Hendrika was taken on 24 February to the hospital barrack 81. In the end deportation followed to Sobibor on 4 May 1943 – together with another 1185 deportees – and on arrival there on 7 May 1943, all were killed immediately in the gas chambers there, included Leon Tokkie and Hendrika David.
Sources include the City Archive of Rotterdam, family registration cards of Emanuel Tokkie and Leon Tokkie; Municipal Archive of Den Haag, family registration card of Leon Tokkie; the City Archive of Amsterdam, archive cards of Abraham Katoen and Roza Tokkie; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Leon Tokkie, Hendrika Tokkie-David, Betje Sips-Tokkie, Roza Tokkie and Yvonne Tokkie; certificates of death A1142 and A1143 made out in Den Haag on 23 May 1946 for Leon Tokkie and Hendrika David and nr. C2927 of 3 November 1950 for Yvonne Tokkie; website jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl and additions of visitors of the website.