Mozes Nathan van Engers was the eldest of the seven children of Nathan Jacob van Engers from Hellevoetsluis and Sophia Sanders from Den Haag, but was born in Rotterdam on 20 March 1907. He lived at home with his parents, was unmarried and earned his living as an occasional and as a roundsman.
Jacob van Engers was the second of the seven children and was born on 3 March 1908. He worked as an office clerk but later he became a mechanic, was unmarried and lived at home too.
Henri van Engers was the youngest son in the family and was born on 26 November 1915. He was a mechanic by trade, was unmarried too and lived with his parents and sibs at home in Rotterdam.
Hanna Elisabeth van Engers was the eldest of the two sisters in the family. She was born on 11 March 1911 and worked as an office clerk. She was unmarried and lived at home too.
ON 8 February 1929 Mozes Nathan and his brother Jacob left Rotterdam for Nijmegen where they lived in the Smidstraat 55. And on 23 May 1929 Hanna Elisabeth, her brother Henri and their parents with their other children left for Nijmegen too, where they have lived for more than 8 months in the Ruysdaelstraat 68.
All members of the Van Engers family returned in Rotterdam on 31 January 1930 where they came to live at Prins Hendrikkade 55a then. Most of the children remained living at home with their parents for some more years but others were looking for living space of their own after a shorter or longer period of time, like Jacob, who left home already on 6 January and found room at the Lijnbaanstraat 45a; Hanna Elisabeth left on 25 July 1935 for the Benthuizerstraat 53b; Henri found living space at Warande 72b in the Rubroek district of Rotterdam on 4 June 1937 and Mozes Nathan left hoe on 15 November 1938 and went living in at the address at Boezemsingel 236.
Afterwards, all the Van Engerses changed addresses several times by relocating but at the time of the mandatory registration of the Jews in the Netherlands which started by order of the Germans in January 1941, Mozes Nathan van Engers was registered at the address Obreenstraat 18a, Jacob van Engers in the Korte Bajonetstraat 8a, Henri van Engers in the Witte de Withstraat 70b and Hanna Elisabeth van Engers at the Boergoensevliet 205c, all in Rotterdam.
The arrest of Jews in Rotterdam started in June 1942. Jews were called up for the so-called provision of additional work in Germany – the “Arbeitseinsatz”- and had to go to Camp Westerbork to be medical examined and one had to report on 30 July 1942 at 18.00 hours at the Rotterdam assembly point at Entrepotstraat in Loods 24. (Barn 24). For the first transport ±2000 people were called-up but only 1120 people showed up. Three days later an second transport left for Westerbork; Of the 2000 people which were called-up now, only 800 showed up. Among those first groups of called-up people were also the four sibs Mozes Nathan, Jacob, Henri and Hanna Elisabeth. (source: website Joods Erfgoed Rotterdam/Joodse Raad – only Dutch available).
After arrival in Westerbork, they were deported to Auschwitz on 3 August 1942 and upon arrival there put to work as forced labourers. Circumstances there were inhumane and many lost their lives due to hardship, diseases or were killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
After the war there was nothing known about the fate of the four Van Engers siblings. The Dutch Ministry of Justice after the war has ordered the Municipality of Rotterdam – based on investigations of the Dutch Red Cross and testimonials, to draw up certificates of death for Mozes Nathan van Engers, for Jacob van Engers, for Henri van Engers and for Hanna Elisabeth van Engers, in which has been established that they have died in Auschwitz on 30 September 1942.
From the “Sterbebücher”(death records) of Auschwitz is has become known only for Henri van Engers, that after arrival in Auschwitz ±6 August 1942, after about one month later, that his fate was “murdered on 5 September 1942”. However only the legal death date, 30 September 1942, as established by the Dutch Ministry of Justice is displayed at the website Joods Monument.
Sources include the Cith Archive of Rotterdam, family registration cards of Nathan Jacob van Engers, Mozes Nathan van Engers, Jacob van Engers, Hanna Elisabeth van Engers and of Henri van Engers; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Mozes Nathan van Engers, Jacob van Engers, Hanna Elisabeth van Engers and of Henri van Engers; website Joods Erfgoed Rotterdam/Joodse Raad (only Dutch language) and the death certificates for voor Mozes Nathan van Engers nr. 1597, for Jacob van Engers nr. 1596, for Hanna Elisabeth van Engers nr. 1594 and for Henri van Engers nr. 1595, made out in Rotterdam on 30 June 1950..