Hijman van West was a son of David van West and Keetje Cohen. He was born on 29 August 1890 in Amsterdam and he was a cigar maker by trade. During the years 1941 he was registered as a vegetable vendor. Hijman married on 28 March 1913 to Feikje Speijer, a daughter of Mozes Speijer and Sara Halberstadt. Feikje was born in Amsterdam on 11 August 1888 and before her marriage, she was employed as an office clerk.
After the marriage was concluded in 1913, the couple Van West-Speijer lived at Blasiusstrata 106, but moved into a house at the President Brandstraat 48 1st floor on 23 September 1930, located in the Transvaal district of Amsterdam-East. Hijman’s father-in-law Mozes Speijer has also lived in with them since then. Meantime, on 25 May 1914 their daughter Keetje was born and on 13 June 1919 their son Mozes.
Mozes van West was employed as an office clerk; he was a bookkeeper and a shorthand typist and in terms of education, he had his diploma 4-year MULO and the practical diploma in bookkeeping. After registration at the Jewish Council in 1941, he had a job at the Jewish Council since 24 July 1942 as youth leader out-of-school youth care at Tulpstraat 17. The Council provided him of an I.D. nr. 2944.
Mozes van West ultimately survived the Holocaust. However, it is not clear from the notes on his registration card of the Jewish Council whether he was in Westerbork or he succeeded going into hiding in time. After the war, in July 1945 he lived at Ruyschstraat 34 III and on 29 August 1945 he married Jeannette Broekman, with whom he had a daughter.
Whether his job at the Jewish Council influenced the time when his mother Feikje and sister Keetje were arrested is not clear and cannot be reconstructed from his and their registration cards. The fact is that on 24 July 1943 Keetje van West was carried off from Amsterdam to Westerbork with other “sick” people and ended up upon arrival in hospital barrack 81.
Also her mother Feikje van West-Speijer was taken to Westerbork that same day, but she was housed there in barrack 65. However, both were put on transport to Auschwitz on 24 August 1943 and upon arrival there on 27 August 1943, immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Hijman van West has not passed through this all anymore. At the time of large-scale raids organized by the Germans at the beginning of October 1942, he ended up in Westerbork between 3 and 5 October 1942. It is not clear whether Hijman had been called up beforehand to report to one of the Jewish labor camps in the north of the Netherlands.At the same time, all Jewish labor camps were liquidated by the Germans on 3 October 1942 and all Jewish forced laborers were taken to Westerbork, where both events caused great chaos.
Three weeks later, on 23 October 1942, the 52-year-old Hijman van West was put on transport to Auschwitz and upon arrival there on 26 October 1942 he was immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card of Hijman van West; archive cards of Hijman van West, Feikje Speijer, Keetje and Mozes van West; Residence card Amsterdam/President Brandstraat 48; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Hijman van West, Feikje Speijer, Keetje and Mozes van West and archives of the Dutch Red Cross, transportlists Amsterdam_Westerbork of 24 July 1943/ page I nr. 4/hospital with nr. Keetje van West to barrack 81 and on page 6, nr. 278 Feikje van West-Speijer to barrack 65.