Barend Vos was the eighth of the ten children of Hijman Vos and Lea van West. He was born on 31 March 1894 at Rapenburg in Amsterdam and married there on 14 March 1917 Naatje Peeper, a daughter of Jesaia Peeper and Sara Erwteman. The couple had a son Leonard, who was born in 1922 in Belgium but he was killed during the Shoah.
Just like his father, Barend worked as diamond worker. Later he became a brilliant polisher. Also his brother Philip was working in the diamond industry in Belgium. Since April 1909 Barend stayed with his parents Hijman Vos and Lea van West, brother Philip and sisters Sara, Esther and Leonora in the Van den Peerenboomstraat 26 in Borgerhout. On 1 July 1910 Barend movedc with his parents ans siblings to Lange Kievitstraat 110 in Antwerp and up from August 1913, they all lived in the Van Vaerenbergstraat 57 in Berchem.
After they lived in Amsterdam at Amstel 113 from February 1915, Hijman Vos, Lea van West and their children came to live in Antwerp again in March 1917 at Provinciestraat 273. On 30 August 1919 also Barend arrived there – he was married in Amsterdam in March 1917 – and his wife Naatje Peeper followed in November. In the beginning they lived shortly in the Van Beethovenstraat 28 but moved in September 1920 to Borgerhout at the address Vooruitzichtstraat 6. There, in 1922, their son Leonard was born.
The marriage of Barend and Naatje however did not last and has been dissolved by divorce in Amsterdam on 24 May 1933. At the end, Barend still got married a second time: on 10 October 1942 he married Abigael da Cunha in Camp Westerbork, who was previously married and divorced from Aron Cosman. Abigael was a daughter of David da Cunha and Helene Stokking and she was born in Antwer on 1 November 1901.
After the marriage of Barend Vos and Naatje Peeper was dissolved in 1933 in Amsterdam, Barend left for Den Haag on 28 August 1934 where he was registered as “dealer of all kinds”. He lived at Van Miereveltstraat 75, Wolmaranstraat 71 and Kempstraat 61. On 31 January 1936 Barend Vos left Den Haag for Antwerp again but it is not known how long and where he has lived.
At some point Barend returned from Antwerp in Holland again and during the mandatory registration of all Jews in The Netherlands, which was ordered per 10 January 1941 by the German occupiers, Barend Vos was registered at the address Kempstraat 61 in Den Haag. He was eventually arrested during the large-scale raids at the beginning of October 1942 and taken to Westerbork, where he arrived sometime between 3 and 5 October 1942.
There he met the divorced spouse of Aron Cosman, Abigael da Cunha, who was already in Westerbork with her daughters since August 1942. On 10 October 1942 Barend Vos married in Westerbork Abigael da Cunha but already on 16 October Barend, his new wife and her daughters Helena and Simonette Clara Cosman were deported to Auschwitz. On arrival there on 19 October, Abigael Vos-da Cunha and her daughters Helena and Simonette Clara were immediately gassed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The transport of 16 October 1942 was a so-called “Kozel transport”, where during a stop at Kozel, located ±80 km west from Auschwitz, 570 men between 15 and 50 year were forced to leave the train, to be deployed as forced labourers in the surrounding labor camps in that region.
Since it is unclear whether Barend Vos has arrived in Auschwitz or not, and perhaps has been deployed there in one of the labour camps of Auschwitz, it might be possible too that Barend Vos has belonged to the group of 570 deportees who had to leave the train in Kozel.
It is not known were Barend has ended up, nor under what circumstances and when he exactly has lost his life. Therefore the Dutch Authorities and the War Grave Foundation have established on 3 August 1957 – certified by the Municipality of Den Haag on 10 March 1957, that Barend Vos has died on 31 March 1944 in Mid-Europe.
Sources include the Felix Archive of Antwerp, dossiers of foreigners for Barend Vos, no’s 481#135618, 968#8311, 1120#2290 and 1120#251; the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Hijman Vos, archive cards of Naatje Peeper, Leonard Vos, Abigael da Cunha; the Municipal Archive of Den Haag, family registration card of Barend Vos; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Barend Vos, Naatje Peeper, Leonard Vos and Abigael Vos-da Cunha and the certified declaration regarding Barend Vos from the War Grave Foundation of 1957.