In 2022, Stolpersteine were laid at Nieuwmarkt 12 in memory of the Bonte family. This was done on behalf of Israel’s friend, the son of the greengrocer who lived behind them. As he grew older, he had increasingly wondered why his parents had not taken that boy into their home as a person in hiding.
The Bonte family lived at this address for a long time; before them, Grandfather Israël Bonte had lived there. They ran a shop selling fishing tackle, and on Sundays, his father also sold the same goods at the Uilenburgermarkt.
The eldest son, Jacob, was a buyer for a clothing factory. In April 1942, he was sent to a Jewish labour camp, Camp Diever A in Friesland on the border with Drenthe. And this despite the fact that he was not in good health. Some of the men were sent to Westerbork on 20 July 1942; this matches the date on which Jacob arrived at and departed from Westerbork, the third transport to Auschwitz from Westerbork. His brother Israël must have received a summons in Amsterdam; he was registered in Westerbork on 15 July and was then deported immediately alongside his brother. They must have been glad to be together. But in Auschwitz, Israël was selected for work and survived a month longer than Jacob.
The parents, who were undoubtedly left behind in despair, were summoned and deported in September 1942. And so this family vanished from the face of the earth. After the war, enquiries were made about Israël Bonte, perhaps by his friend who, later in his life, had Stolpersteine laid for the family.
