Victor van Zanten was born in Amsterdam on 17 January 1927, the son of Benjamin van Zanten and Hermina Clara Slagter. His father died in 1930. In 1931 his mother moved to Haarlem with Victor and married again there, with the non-Jewish woodworker Gerrit Albert van Groningen. From 27 May 1936 the family lived at Rijksstraatweg 260. At the start of the war Victor was an apprentice stone sawyer.
His mother was protected from deportation by her mixed marriage; Victor was not. On 9 September 1942 officials came to list only his room and his belongings: some clothes and underwear. On 17 February 1943 the family had to move to Amsterdam. Victor was registered in Westerbork on 20 May 1943 and deported to Sobibor on 25 May. He was murdered there on 28 May 1943. He was 16. His mother and stepfather survived the war.
