Stumbling Stone Duvenvoordestraat 30

This memorial stone (so called Stolpersteine of stumbling blocks) commemorates:

Jacob Bak

The small copper plaques, in the pavement in front of houses of which the (mostly Jewish) residents were murdered by the Nazis, mention the name, date of birth and place (mostly a concentration camp) and date of death.

In many other cities, mainly in Germany but also in other European countries, the memorials also can be found. There are already many thousands of these plaques and their number is still counting. Almost all Stolpersteine are laid by the German artist himself, Gunter Demnig.

JACOB BAKE
December 22, 1888 (Amsterdam) - October 8, 1942 (Auschwitz)
DUVENVOORDESTRAAT 30
Jacob Bak was the only son in a family of five daughters. On March 20, 1921 he married the Norwegian Martha Heilbrunn (b. 7-11-1888). On November 18, 1922, they had a son, Bernhard. Jacob worked as a house servant in the 'Association for Portuguese Israelite Married Old People' in Amsterdam. Martha worked as an assistant housekeeper in the 'Dutch-Israelite Old Men's and Women's House', also in Amsterdam. In 1932 the family moved to Haarlem, where Jacob worked as a cigar maker.
In 1937, Jacob and Martha divorced. Martha continued to live with their son at Molenaerstraat 32 a-rood. Jacob moved to another address in Haarlem and eventually rented a furnished bed-sitting room at 30 Duvenvoordestraat. During the war, their son Bernhard unsuccessfully tried to adopt his mother's Norwegian nationality in order to avoid deportation. He was murdered on April 30, 1943 in Sobibor. He turned 20 years old. Martha Heilbrunn survived the war in hiding.
Transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz on 5 October 1942.
Murdered in Auschwitz on October 8, 1942.
He was 53 years old.

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Source

• Text: Reini Elkerbout
• Photos: Reini Elkerbout