Henriette van Pels, born 6 January 1912 in Rotterdam, was the only daughter of Mozes van Pels from Oude Pekela and Rijntje Slagter from Rotterdam. Henriette had a good education; gynasium B and afterwards she achieved her qualification to teach for primary schools, with also a registration for needlework, gymnastics and religious teaching in the lowest grade and was employed as teacher for special primary education. She was unmarried.
Henriette’s mother passed away 16 December 1927 and she was interred in the Jewish Cemetery Toepad in Rotterdam. Her father, Mozes van Pels moved 15 September 1938 from Rotterdam to Charlotte van Bourbonstraat 18 in Den Haag, where he died 3 September 1939. Mozes van Pels too was interred in the Jewisch Cemetery Toepad in Rotterdam.
On 26 April 1933 Henriette left Rotterdam to the Israëlitic Orphanage at Rodenburgerstraat 1 in Leiden and in 1936 she left Leiden for Hilversum. Because Henriette was appointed per 1 Januari 1940 as a teacher at the Herman Elteschool in Van Ostadestraat 203 in Amsterdam, she moved from Hilversum to Roerstraat 10 2nd floor in Amsterdam in early January 1940, from where she left after three weeks already to Milletstraat 58 3rd floor. On 21 August 1942, she returned to Roerstraat 10 2nd floor, which was also her last known address.
Because of her function as teacher, Henriette was exempted from deportation until further notice (“gesperrt bis aus weiteres”). However, as was the case with all exemptions, also Henriette’s was decayed and she was carried off to Westerbork, the end of June or early July 1943. On 6 July she was put on transport to Sobibor and on arrival there, 9 July 1943, she was immediately killed.
City Archive of Rotterdam, family registration card of Mozes van Pels; Municipal Archive of Den Haag, family registration card of Mozes van Pels and certificate of death for Mozes van Pels, nr. 1699; website hetstenenarchief.nl, graves of Rijntje Slagter and Mozes van Pels; City Archive of Amsterdam, residence cards of Milletstraat 58 and Roerstraat 10 and the archive card of Henriette van Pels and the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Henriette van Pels.