Abraham Veerman, a son of Jacob Veerman and Susanna Berlijn, was born on 23 February1895 in Amsterdam. He was a diamond cutter by profession. As a 15-year-old, he was admitted on 13 April 1910 as an apprentice to the ANDB (General Dutch Diamond Workers' Union) and learned the trade from his father Jacob in the Rudelsheim workshop. On 5 July 1913 he took his aptitude test at the Examination Committee, which he passed and became a member of the ANDB that same day and admitted to section 2 as a brilliant cutter's assistant.
On 11 June 1929, Abraham left for Cape Town in South Africa, but returned to Amsterdam on 20 July 1931 and was re-registered as a member of the ANDB. He then lived at Ruyschstraat 57, 1st floor. Until his marriage, which took place on 11 September 1935, Abraham also lived on the Jozef Israëlskade, the Zuider Amstellaan, and the Amstel. After he married Jogeva Beek, the daughter of Leon Salomon Beek and Mietje Oudkerk, in 1935, he came to live with his wife at Kribbestraat 45, 1st floor, where they had a son named Leon on 30 October 1935.
In 1942, Jews were forbidden to be members of non-Jewish organizations. This meant that Abraham Veerman was also obliged to resign as a member of the ANDB and subsequently had to become a member of Betsalel, the Association of Israëlitic Diamond Workers. (Dutch language only). The Joodsche Weekblad had an article to it in their edition no. 48 of 6 March 1942, which was placed on the front page.
Furthermore, due to all the anti-Jewish measures that had been taken, it became increasingly difficult for Abraham to support his family. On 29 January 1942, Abraham Veerman was arrested as a suspect for "fraudulent transport of meat" by crisis officer W.F. Gonkel and transferred to one of the police stations in Amsterdam. When he was searched after his arrest, Abraham turned out to have a large amount of money on him, f. 727 and 19½ cent. After interrogation on 30 January 1942, Abraham was sent away again by the said crisis official.
Abraham's mother-in-law, Mietje Beek-Oudkerk, lived in with the family of Abraham and Jogeva at Kribbestraat 45, 1st floor, from October 1940, but she left from there in August 1942 to Van Eeghenstraat 44 2nd level in Amsterdam-South, where her great-niece Esther de Haas lived. A few months later, also Abraham and his family were obliged to move: on 27 November 1942, they were forced to move into a house at Reitzstraat 34 3rd floor in the Transvaal-district of Amsterdam East.
In the end, three Jewish districts were officially established instead of one ghetto: the “Jodenhoek” in the Center, the Transvaal-district in East, and the River-district in South. Large numbers of Jews from within and outside Amsterdam would have to move there. Later in 1942, all Jews who had not yet been deported were sent to the Transvaal district.(source: Amsterdam 1940-1945).
Abraham Veerman's wife, Jogeva Beek, had been employed as a nurse at the N.I.Z., the Dutch Israelitic Hospital at Nieuwe Keizersgracht 110, since 1 July 1929. She had a MULO education, a commercial evening school diploma and her white cross and maternity nurse diploma. She was “gesperrt due to function” by the Jewish Council with identification JR 504. However, in 1943 staff and patients were deported, unless they had already fled. The building was subsequently stripped of all combustionable parts.(source https://amsterdamopdekaart.nl/1850-1940/Nieuwe_Keizersgracht/NIZ - Dutch language only)
Jogeva Veerman-Beek and her son Leon were eventually arrested in their home at Reitzstraat 34 and on 28 January 1944, deported from the “Joodsche Schouwburg” in Amsterdm to Westerbork, where they ended up in barrack 62. They were both deported on 8 February 1944 to Auschwitz and immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau upon arrival there on 11 February 1944.
A year earlier, Abraham Veerman was arrested and taken to Westerbork. From his Jewish Council card it can be deduced that Abraham left Amsterdam for Westerbork from the prison on the Amstelveenseweg - given the mention: "from Amstelveenseweg".
It is not known when this might have been, because an inquiry to the NIOD institute revealed that no archives have been preserved of the Deutsche Abteilung of the House of Detetion on the Amstelveenseweg (actually Havenstraat) and the House of Detention on the Weteringschans. They were destroyed by German order at the end of the war.
Known is however that Abraham Veerman was deported to Auschwitz on 11 January 1943 with the first transport of the new year 1943, with a total of 750 deportees; the first of a series of deportation “spring-transports” in January and February 1943 and he probably arrived in Auschwitz on 13/14 January 1943.
But as already mentioned in the General Comments on the transport of 11 January 1943, and unlike the Auschwitz transports of autumn 1942, the spring transports of 1943 had more of the character of extermination transports, accentuated mainly by the fact that they were for the most part composed of elderly and disabled persons, who were not eligible for employment and were therefore destined to be gassed immediately upon arrival at Auschwitz.
Whether 48-year-old Abraham Veerman was selected as "arbeitsfähig" (fit for work) upon arrival is unknown. The general conclusion, which also applies to Abraham Veerman, is therefore that the men who had reached the age of 16 on the day of arrival at Auschwitz (i.e. on 14 January 1943), but were not yet 51 years old, are, unless individually known otherwise, considered to have died in the Auschwitz complex no earlier than 14 January 1943 and no later than 30 April 1943. All other men belonging to this transport are, unless individually known otherwise, considered to have died on or about 14 January 1943 in Auschwitz/Birkenau.
The Dutch Authorities after the war have established, partly on the basis of research by the Red Cross and testimonies of survivors, that Abraham Veerman no longer could be alive after 30 April 1943. The Municipality of Amsterdam then was instructed to draw up a certificate of death for him in which has been stated that Abraham Veerman has died in Auschwitz on 30 April 1943.
Sources include the Amsterdam City Archives, archive cards of Abraham Veerman, Jogeva Beek and Leon Veerman; apprentice- and membership cards ANDB of Abraham Veerman; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Abraham Veerman, Jogeva Veerman-Beek and Leon Veerman; Police reports 40-45/Abraham Veerman (29 and 30 January 1942); the archive of the Red Cross, transport lists Amsterdam-Westerbork from 28 January 1944 for Jogeva Veerman-Beek and Leon Beek; Red Cross publication Auschwitz IV, deportation transports in 1943/transport 11 January 1943 and the death certificate 167 of 5 July 1951 from the A-register 81-folio 29verso from the Amsterdam City Archives, drawn up by the Municipality of Amsterdam for Abraham Veerman.