Willem Vos was a son of Leendert Vos and Esther Porcelijn. He was born in Amsterdam on 21 January 1917. His registration in the Militairy Register of 4 May 1936 showed that he had obtained his 4-year MULO diploma, was suitable as a regular conscript for military service and his wish was to be assigned to the infantry in Amersfoort. As a profession, it was noted that he was a traveller in gas and water supply items.
Willem’s father Leendert Vos passed away on 4 March 1919 and his mother, Esther Porcelijn stayed behind with six children, three boys and three girls. The three brothers were then admitted in the Dutch Israëlitic Boys Orphanage in the Zwanenburgerstraat 20/Amstel 21 in Amsterdam.
The eldest of the boys, Hijman, who was born on 3 December 1909, was registered there on 26 June 1919 and stayed there till 12 January 1928. After his discharge there he went back to his mother, who then still lived in the Lange Houtstraat, but moved in 1929 to the Ben Viljoenstraat and per March 1934 lived at the Tugelaweg 129 2nd floor.
Hartog Vos, who was born on 30 May 1914, was registered there on 5 November 1919 and stayed in the Boys Orphanage till 2 June 1936, and after his discharge he too went living with his mother at the Tugelaweg 129 2nd floor.
Willem, the youngest of the three brothers, was just 2 years old, when his father died. He stayed with his mother till he celebrated his 5th birthday and on 7 August 1922, also Willem was admitted in the Dutch Israëlitic Boys Orphanage at Amstel 21. On 26 April 1935, also Willem returned to his mother at the Tugelaweg 129 2nd floor in Amsterdam-East.
On 4 May 1936, Willem Vos was declared fit for military service; his request was to be assigned to the infantry in Amersfoort. On 15 July 1937, he was dismissed from the service – on so-called long leave, and went working then as a warehouse clerk. Probably, after Willem and other Jewish workers were fired as a result of the anti-Jewish measures of the Germans, he and his brother Hartog started a factory for the manufacture of artificial leather goods. Unfortunately a small fire broke out there on 10 April 1942, after which the activities had to be stopped.
Then Willem Vos was called up to report in the Jewish labour camp Geesbrug, located on the road to Hoogeveen and the Hoogeveense Vaart. On 3 October 1942 the Jewish workers, among then also Willem Vos, were taken from there to Westerbork, to be deported to “the East”. In Westerbork Willem requested “to be kept in the camp as he was expecting a “Sperre” – an exemption from deportation, based on his expectations for “Wehrmachts work” (Army work). The request was considered as “insufficient” and already on 5 October 1942, Willem Vos has been deported to Auschwitz.
The transport with 2012 deportees consisted also of a first transfer of the 10.000 persons from the liquidated Jewish Labour Camps. The Auschwitz archives (Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau) showed that Willem Vos was given prisoners number 178898 upon arrival in Auschwitz. He was selected for forced labor on arrival there ± 8 October 1942 but it is not exactly known where he was put to work at that time then.
It is certain that Willem Vos ended up in the Buchenwald concentration camp with one of the so-called evacuation transports in early 1945 from Auschwitz via Gross Rosen. The evacuation transport with which Willem Vos eventually ended up in Buchenwald, turns out to have been a transport “by foot” to Gross Rosen and onwards “by train” to Buchenwald.
From a publication of the Dutch Red Cross “Auschwitz, part VI - transports from Auschwitz and the large evacuation transports”, as on the pages 29, 30, 39 and on, it can be deduced that Willem Vos was probably deployed in the "Aussen Kommando Blechhammer", (Labor Command Blechhammer), which was a so-called satellite camp, belonging to Auschwitz III (Monowitz).
According to that publication, it appears that prisoners from Blechhammer via Gross Rosen, between 18 and 21 January were evacuated exclusively to Buchenwald and not to other concentration camps. The prisoners, who left Blechhammer on foot on 21 January 1945, reached Gross Rosen on 2 February 1945 and were not sent by train to Buchenwald until 7 February. The arrivals in Buchenwald were on 9 and 10 February 1945.
The registration card from the Buchenwald camp administration shows that Willem Vos arrived from Gross Rosen in Buchenwald on 10 February 1945 and was registered there with prisoners number 130711. Furthermore, it has been taken down on his card that Willem Vos has died there on 25 February 1945 as a result of “Lungenentzündung” (pneumonia).
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdamf, family registration cards of Leendert Vos and Willem Vos, archive card of Willem Vos; Special Registers: Dutch Israëlitic Boys Orphanage; Police report of 10 April 1942/fire at the artificial leather factory of Willem and Hartog Vos; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Willem Vos; the Wikipedia website Joden transporten vanuit Nederland.nl; certificate of death for Willem Vos, no. 225 from the A-register 41-folio 30verso, made out in Amsterdam on 6 July 1950; a Dutch Red Cross publication Auschwitz Part VI- transports from Auschwitz and the large evacuation transports/to Buchenwald, pages 29, 30, 39 and further, edited March 1952 and the website ITS Arolson/Buchenwald documents of Willem Vos.