Simon Frankfort was born in Amsterdam on 25 July 1907 a a son of Jacob Frankfort and Rebecca Vogel. He started working as an errand boy, but earned his living later as a dealer of all kinds of goods. On 4 July 1928 he married Lena van Kreeveld in Amsterdam and they had three children, viz. Rebecca in 1928, Hendrik in 1930 and Richard in 1935.
Lena van Kreeveld, daughter of Isaac van Kreeveld and Rachel Schelvis, (daughter of Mozes Schelvis and Marianne Wurms), was born in Altona (Germany) on 1 December 1908, where her parents divorced on 18 December 1922. Her mother Rachel Schelvis returned with Lena in Amsterdam in September 1923, remarried in 1927 Hendrik Waterman and both have survived the war.
Lena’s father Isaac van Kreeveld remarried in 1923 Kaatje Tokkie and had still a daughter with her, named Betsy, a half-sister of Lena. Isaac van Kreeveld, his wife Kaatje and daughter Betsy were murdered in Sobibor on 26 March 1943.
The Frankfort-van Kreeveld couple lived at Von Zesenstraat 36 on 19 October 1928, moved 20 December 1932 to the Louis Bothastraat 30, but after the birth of their third child in January 1935, the marriage of Simon and Lena turned out to be no longer lasting and they went living apart on 6 January 1936; Simon was registered then at Krugerplein 17 3rd floor in Amsterdam-East, living in with the Johannes M. Roelofs family and Lena with her children then moved into living space at Dani Theronstraat 13 3rd floor.
Already after one month, on 11 February 1936 Lena and the children moved to Hofmeijrstraat 13 3rd floor and Simon Frankfort on 16 March 1936 to 2e Oosterparkstraat 129 where he could live in with the Christiaan P. Booms family. Simon then moved to Rapenburgerstraat 89 3rd floor, after which the marriage has been dissolved formally by divorce on 10 June 1937 in Amsterdam
Lena and her children remained living at Hofmeijrstraat 13 3rd floor until June 1938, then moved to Retiefstraat 71 3rd floor and one year later, in August 1939 to Tidorestraat 24. On 3 July 1940 the then 31-year-old Lena remarried the 44-year-old Simson Cohen Rodrigues, who was previously married and divorced from Mietje Berlijn.
Simon Frankfort has not remarried after his divorce. From the Reitzstraat 17 I where he lived at the time, he left on 8 November 1938 to the Rapenburgerstraat 75 III and from there on 30 August 1939 to the President Brandtstraat 20 I at the Transvaal district of Amsterdam-East. On 9 July 1940 was his last removal to the Nieuwe Prinsengracht 60 1st floor, from where he was arrested on 25 March and sent to concentration camp Vught.
Simon Frankfort stayed there until 15 November 1943, was put to work there as rubber sticker of rainwear and has been deported in a direct transport from Vught to Auschwitz then. Upon arrival there on 18 November, 6 weeks of “quarantaine” and selections followed. The remaining men then were divided among other labor commands, also in Auschwitz-Birkenau.
After the war, Dutch authorities determined, partly on the basis of research by the Red Cross and testimonies of survivors, that Simon Frankfurt could no longer be alive after 21 January 1945. On this basis, the Municipality of Amsterdam has been instructed to draw up a death certificate for Simon Frankfurt, which states that he died on 21 January 1945 in (the vicinity of) Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Simon Frankfort and Lena van Kreeveld; archive cards of Simon Frankfort and Lena van Kreeveld; Amsterdam residence cards of Rapenburgerstraat 75 III and Nieuwe Prinsengracht 60 with Simon Frankfort; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Simon Frankfort; website ITS Arolson/camp card Vught of Simon Frankfort and a victim listing Auschwitz with Simon Frankfort and the certificate of death for Simon Frankfort nr. 436 made out in Amsterdam on 22 February 1952 from the A-register 94-folio 74v.