Biography

About Greta Henriëtte Gobes and her husband Henri Courlander.

Greta Henriëtte Gobes, born 20 January 1912, was the eldest daughter of Machiel Gobes and Regina Fraenkel. On 17 June 1942 she married in Amsterdam Henri Courlander, who was born on 19 July 1914 in Amsterdam as son of David Jacob Courlander and Catharina Philips. At the time of the mandatory registration of the Jews in the Netherlands, she worked as office clerk and Henri as domestic servant; formerly he was employed as salesman of fashion articles. Henri lived at Onbekendegracht 3 1st floor in Amsterdam and Greta lived at home with her parents at Marnixstraat 370 1st floor.

An austerely detail is that just on their wedding day they were taken away to Westerbork and deported to Auschwitz on 24 July. On arrival there on 27 July 1942, they presumably were selected to perform “labor” in or outside the camp. Of both the exact date of death is not known but the Dutch Ministry of Justice  ordered the Municipality of Amsterdam to draw up a certificate of death for Greta Henriëtte Gobes and Henri Courlander in which the date and place of death was established as on 30 September 1942 in Auschwitz.

Sources among others: City Archive of Amsterdam, archive cards of Machiel Gobes, Greta Henriëtte Gobes and Henri Courlander and the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Greta Henrëtte Gobes and Henri Courlander.

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