Gerson Goldberg was born on 4 March 1909 in Jaworzno in Poland as a son of Marcus Goldberg and Chaja Tajgla. Gerson was a tailor by profession and during the Census of 30 December 1930, it appeared that Gerson lived already in Amsterdam, however, it is not known when exactly he has arrived from Poland in Amsterdam. The Census of 1930 shows that Gerson Goldberg then lived in with “Majer Engelstein" at (Nieuwe) Keizersgracht 48 ground floor. On 11 April 1935, “Majer Engelstein" moved to Eurterpestraat 34 ground floor and Gerson moved with him too.
On 1 December 1937 Gerson married in Amsterdam Heintje Vos, who was born there on 12 November 1911 as the youngest of the ten children of Isaäc Vos and Mietje Visser. Gerson then lived in with his wife with “the Klein-family” at Plantage Middenlaan 86 2nd floor. Then, on 6 January 1938 they moved to Plantage Kerklaan 17 upperhouse with “Wolffers” but on 12 August 1938 Gerson and Heintje could move into an own house at Jan Lievensstraat 48 3rd floor in the so-called “Diamond district" in Amsterdam-old South.
On October 1, 1941, Gerson Goldberg reported an attempted theft to the police. In the night of 29 to 30 September 1941, unauthorized persons tried to force the lock on the shop door of his shop at Haarlemmerdijk 49, which was unsuccessful. Nothing was missing, there was no suspicion, and the report was not followed up.
According to a note on the registration cards of the Jewish Council, Gerson and Heintje and their son Herman Goldberg, who was born on 3 August 1939, are said to have gone into hiding. It is not known where Herman was housed; he eventually survived the Holocaust. But not his parents; they were also “hidden” but in the night of 23 to 24 December 1942 they were arrested by the Amsterdam police at the address Cilliersstraat 27 ground floor, where Heintje's parents and some of her brothers and sisters lived and were subsequently carried off to police station 11, the station "Jewish Affairs" and brought in there.
The police report of 24 December 1942 reads: At 11.30 am, Lieutenant Van der Berg and Detective Kaptijn, from addresst Cilliersstraat 27 ground floor, here in Amsterdam, the following Jews: 1st Gerson Goldberg, born in Jaworzno in Poland on 4 March 1909, tailor by profession, living in the Jan Lievensstraat 48 3rd floor here and 2nd: his wife Heintje Vos, born in Amsterdam on 12 November 1911, without occupation, also living Jan Lievensstraat 48 3rd floor here. Said persons had moved without a permit to move and remain in custody for bringing up before the S.D.
Gerson and Heintje were detained in the prison on the Amstelveenseweg and remained at the disposal of the S.D. In the night of 8 to 9 January 1943 they were sent on from Amsterdam to Westerbork, where they were locked up in the penal barrack 66. On 11 January they were both deported to Auschwitz where they will have arrived ±14 January 1943.
It is certain that on arrival in Auschwitz Gerson Goldberg was selected to perform "labour" as a forced laborer somewhere in the camp, but that is uncertain about his wife Heintje Vos. It is clear from the Auschwitz death records (Sterbebücher) that Gerson Goldberg was murdered in Auschwitz about four weeks later, on 18 February 1943. The name of his wife, who appears on the transport lists in Auschwitz as Heintje Goldberg, contains no notes that indicate a longer stay in the camp. This could mean that Heintje Goldberg-Vos would probably have been murdered directly in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau upon arrival in Auschwitz on ± 14 January 1943.
After the war, when the above mentioned was not yet known, it was established by the Dutch authorities on the basis of survivors' testimonials that Gerson Goldberg and presumably also his wife Heintje Vos could no longer be alive after 30 April 1943. The municipality of Amsterdam was then ordered to draw up death certificates for both, in which it was officially established that Gerson Goldberg and also his wife Heintje Goldberg-Vos had died on 30 April 1943 in Auschwitz.
Sources include the Amsterdam City Archives, family registration cards of Gerson Goldberg, archive cards of Gerson Goldberg and Heintje Vos; Amsterdam police reports of 1 October 1941, of 23 and 24 December 1942; residence cards of Keizersgracht 48 and Euterpestraat 34 Amsterdam; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Gerson Goldberg, Heintje Goldberg-Vos and Herman Goldberg; website Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau/ Auschwitz prisoners/Gerson Goldberg and Heintje Goldberg and the Amsterdam death certificates for Gerson Goldberg no. 86 dated 26 May 1953 from the A-register 100-folio 16 and for Heintje Vos no. 170 dated 5 July 1951 from the A-register 81-folio 30.