Aafjes, Nicolaas, born 31-08-1906, in Krommenie 
, the middle child of five born to Cornelis Aafjes and Jannetje, born Klok. When Nicolaas was young, the family moved from Krommenie to Zaandam.
Nicolaas Aafjes grew up in a good home. On 28-10-1931, Nicolaas married Jansje Dekker. They had three kids: Jannetje, Geertruida, and Evert.
Nicolaas Aafjes was a casual laborer and performed a variety of tasks. Nicolaas was a sociable man who was committed to helping the less fortunate in his community. According to stories, Nicolaas Aafjes, together with his good friend Piet Goed, was involved in the resistance. Piet Goed was a Dutch resistance fighter during World War II. Piet and his wife Dina, who were both devout Christians, helped Jewish people go into hiding and provided them with false identities and food stamps. Piet was arrested by the Gestapo 
and detained for nine months, but was released due to lack of evidence. After his release, he continued his resistance work.
Nicolaas and Piet were on a raid in the area and had shot a cow in a pasture and taken part of it with them to give to the less fortunate. This is believed to have been the reason for their arrest. Nicolaas was arrested by the police in Zaandam and beaten with a rifle butt during his arrest. Nicolaas was in bad shape. Immediately after his arrest, he was transferred to Camp Vught, where he died some time later, on 16-03-1944, age 30.
Between January 1943 and September 1944, more than 31,000 people were imprisoned in Camp Vught for short or long periods of time. 
In addition to 15,000 Jews, Vught held political prisoners, resistance fighters, Sinti and Roma (gypsies), Jehovah’s Witnesses, vagrants, black marketeers, criminals, and hostages. More than 700 adults and children died in Vught from hunger, disease, and abuse. 329 of them were executed at a special place outside the camp: the firing squad site. For some, life in Vught was less harsh than in a camp such as Amersfoort. It was possible to have some contact with the “outside world,” for example by smuggling notes out of the camp.Most prisoners were transported to the Dachau camp, where they inmiddiately were killed in the gas chambers.
The children’s transports from Camp Vught were two mass deportations on June 6 and 7, 1943, of all Jewish children present in Camp Vught near Den Bosch by train via Camp Westerbork 
to the Sobibór 
extermination camp in occupied Poland. The more than 1,000 children aged 0 to 16 were murdered immediately upon arrival. Camp Sobibór was a German extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, located near the village of Sobibór. It was active from April 1942 to November 1943 and was one of the most efficient and deadly extermination camps. Approximately 170,000 people, mainly Jews, were deported to Sobibór, and a large proportion were murdered immediately upon arrival. After an uprising in October 1943, the camp was dismantled.
From the moment Camp Vught 
imprisoned its first prisoners, a “Deutsche Standesbeamte” (German registrar) was stationed in Vught. He was required to record with great accuracy the name, last address, religious affiliation, occupation, date and time of death of every prisoner who died, as well as their date and place of birth, the names of their father and mother, and, if applicable, the surname and first name of their spouse. Some of the information undoubtedly came from the Kommandantur’s records, where each prisoner was registered as completely as possible upon arrival.
Because Nicolaas had died, there was no income and his wife could no longer pay the rent. As a result, Jansje Aafjes-Dekker and her children were evicted from their home and housed in the ‘De Uitkomst’ neighborhood. At that time, poverty was rife, there was practically nothing to eat, and work was scarce. It is noteworthy that after his death, Nicolaas was buried in Zaandam. His coffin was sealed. On 23-12-1963, Nicolaas’ remains were reburied at the Dutch Field of Honor in Loenen, grave 223 
in the municipality of Apeldoorn. The National War Cemetery in Loenen is the final resting place of nearly 4,000 Dutch war victims: military personnel and civilians.
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