Jonas van Oosten was married to Gonda Godschalk. The couple had three sons and a daughter: Machiel, Abraham, Maurits and Hester Henderina, who was married to Denneboom.

Jonas van Oosten ran the furniture shop De Walvisch with his sons Machiel (known as Mie) and Maurits (known as Mau) on the Gedempte Singel in Assen. The shop opened in 1896. In addition to selling home furnishings, the firm arranged moves. The firm's large orange lorry was the first transport vehicle in Assen. The extensive advertising included the song 'De Groote Walvischtrein', of which the words to the first of the three stanzas were:

'If you want to move, fear you need not feign:

Van Oosten has a big whale train,

to bring your things without a penny of pain

To Amsterdam or Zierikzee or IJsselstein.'
F.J. Hulst and H.M. Luning, De joodse gemeente Assen; Geschiedenis van een behoorlijke Kille, 1740-1976 (Assen 1993) 41, 88 and 89

In addition, a Jokos file (number 11555) on this family is at the Amsterdam Municipal Archive. Access is subject to authorization from the Stichting Joods Maatschappelijk Werk.


This family is commemorated on a memorial in Assen. More information on this memorial can be found (in Dutch) on the website of the Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei.