David Koe (1901, Amsterdam) lost his mother young and grew up partly in the Jewish orphanage De Bergstichting. In 1928 he married Seraphine Oppenheimer (1902, Germany). They lived in Amsterdam, then Haarlem, where their children Rosa (1931), Louis (1936), and Barend (1937) were born. David worked in butter trade and later ran a household goods business. From 1942 the family faced increasing hardship and forced moves, finally living with relatives in Amsterdam. In May 1943 they were sent to Camp Vught; the children were separated during the Kindertransport to Westerbork. On 6 July 1943 the whole family was deported to Sobibor and murdered. Seraphine’s sisters Else Margarete and Luise survived, emigrating to Israel after the war. Photos of the family were preserved through them. David’s sisters Sara, Mina, Esther, and Kaatje all perished in Auschwitz.
