Stumbling Stones Zijlstraat 41A

These memorial stones (so called Stolpersteine of stumbling blocks) commemorate:

family v.d.Lijn

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.

HYMAN LEONARDUS VAN DER LIJN
March 25, 1882 (Antwerp) - August 31, 1942 (Auschwitz)
ZIJLSTRAAT 41 A
Hyman Leonardus van der Lijn was born in Antwerp in 1882, but settled in the Netherlands where in 1906 he married Aaltje Gokkes, a few years his junior, born in 1884 in Harlingen. In that year Hyman is a cigar shopkeeper in Amsterdam. Four children were born of this marriage: Gonda, Benjamin, Lion and Betsie. Of these four children, only Lion survived the persecution of the Jews. After the death of his wife, Hyman remarried in Zaandam in 1919 to Rachel Achttienribben, widow of Jacob Schuitevoeder. Together they had a son Abraham.
Hyman worked in the hospitality industry, including as a waiter in Zandvoort, but in 1932 the family settled in Haarlem, where Hyman ran a meat shop at 41a Zijlstraat. About five years later he opened a 'Restaurant-Automatic' in the same plot, where fine meats, comestibles and freshly baked fish were available and could also be consumed. When the German occupier imposed all kinds of restrictions on Dutch Jews, it was decreed in 1941 that they in Haarlem only had access to Hyman van der Lijn's restaurant on Zijlstraat and that of I. Noach on Kruisstraat.
Around that time, father Hyman, mother Rachel, daughter Gonda from Hyman's first marriage and son Abraham lived in the house on Zijlstraat. In 1942 they were taken to Westerbork and deported from there on 28 August 1942. A few days later, on August 31, Hyman Leonardus van der Lijn was murdered in Auschwitz.
Transport from Westerbork on August 28, 1942.
Murdered in Auschwitz on August 31, 1942.
He turned 60 years old.

RACHEL VAN DER LINE-EIGHTEEN RIBBES
October 28, 1885 (Amsterdam) - August 31, 1942 (Auschwitz)
ZIJLSTRAAT 41 A
Rachel Achttienribben was born in October 1885 as the daughter of the Amsterdam diamond cutter Abraham Achttienribben and his wife Jetje Beber. In 1902 she worked as a maid and in 1911 she married the Amsterdam butcher Jacob Schuiteleider. After his death in 1917, Rachel remarried in 1919 in Zaandam to the waiter Hyman Leonardus van der Lijn. In 1921 she gave birth to their son Abraham.
She and her family settled in Haarlem in the 1930s at Zijlstraat 41a, where her husband sold meat products and in 1937 operated a Restaurant-Automatic. It was this catering business that, during the German occupation in 1941, was determined to allow Dutch Jews access there. With the exception of a business on the Kruisstraat, they were no longer allowed in restaurants elsewhere in the city.
From the house on the Zijlstraat, Rachel van der Lijn-Achttienribben, her husband HymanLeonardus van der Lijn, daughter Gonda from her husband's first marriage and her son Abraham were transferred to Westerbork in 1942 and from there on 28 August 1942 were deported. On August 31, 1942, Rachel van der Lijn-Achttienribben was murdered in Auschwitz.
Transport from Westerbork on August 28, 1942.
Murdered in Auschwitz on August 31, 1942.
She was 56 years old.
GONDA VAN DER LINE
April 9, 1907 (Amsterdam) - August 31, 1942 (Auschwitz)
ZIJLSTRAAT 41 A
Gonda van der Lijn was born in 1907 as the eldest child in the marriage of Aaltje Gokkes and Hyman Leonardus van der Lijn. After the death of her mother, her father remarried Rachel Achttienribben in 1919 and Gonda was taken in by the Van der Lijn-Achttienribben family.
Gonda lived with this family from 1932 in Haarlem at Zijlstraat 41a. As an unmarried woman, she was still living at home with her parents when she, her father, stepmother and half-brother Abraham were taken to Westerbork in 1942. From Westerbork she was deported to Auschwitz on August 28, where she was murdered on August 31, 1942.
Transport from Westerbork on August 28, 1942.
Murdered in Auschwitz on August 31, 1942.
She was 35 years old.

ABRAHAM VAN DER LINE
March 9th, 1921 (Amsterdam) - April 30th, 1943 (Central Europe)
ZIJLSTRAAT 41 A
Abraham van der Lijn was born in 1921 as the only child of the second marriage of HymanLeonardus van der Lijn to the widow Rachel Achttienribben. From his father's first marriage he had two stepbrothers and two stepsisters, only one of whom survived the war and the persecution of the Jews.
He and his parents came to live in 1932 at Zijlstraat 41a, where his father operated a shop in processed meats and later a 'Restaurant-Automatic'. With a catering business on the Kruisstraat, his father's restaurant was from 1941 the only catering establishment where Dutch Jews had access.
At the start of the war, Abraham lived with his parents and his half-sister Gonda in the house on Zijlstraat. He was then unmarried and working as a warehouse clerk. In 1942 the whole family was transferred to Westerbork and deported from there on August 28 of that year. Abraham probably belonged to the group of men and boys who were taken off the train at the freight station in Cosel (nowadays Koźle in Poland, about 80 km west of Auschwitz). They were selected to work as forced laborers in the surrounding camps. Of the approximately 3,500 Jewish men and boys in these Dutch Cosel transports, less than 200 survived the war. Abraham van der Lijn was among those who died of exhaustion, disease and violence, but it is not known where. His official death date of April 30, 1943 is therefore most likely a collector's date indicating that he was no longer alive at that time.
Transport from Westerbork on August 28, 1942.
Killed in Central Europe on April 30, 1943.
He was 22 years old.