Leendert Wurms was a son of Barend Wurms and Schoontje van den Berg. He married 22 May 1918 in Amsterdam Henriette de Hond, a daughter of Joseph de Hond and Sara Schuit. The couple had two children namely Barend, born 7 April 1923 in Amsterdam and Jozeph, born 6 June 1929 in Berchem (Antwerp).
In Amsterdam Leendert lives at Lepelstraat, among others at nr. 49, where also the parents of his wife Henriette de Hond lived. His profession was hawker/peddler but Leendert left Amsterdam for Antwerp in June 1925 to provide for a living as a diamond worker. He worked at Messrs. Schrijvers at Lange Kievitstraat 26 for average Bfrs. 200 weekly and in 1926 with Messrs Roet at Vestingstraat 26 where he earned about Bfrs. 300 per week.
Leendert Wurms commuted between Amsterdam and Antwerp. Also his parents have left Amsterdam for Antwerp; they lived since October 1923 at Statiestraat 15, where also Leendert with his family arrived and has lived from June till September 1925. September he moved again to Amsterdam, to return to Antwerp at the address Van Immerseelstraat 10 in 1926 with his wife and son Barend. In February 1927 they move to Berchem, where in 1929 his son Jozeph was born. In 1931 the family came back to Amsterdam where they shortly lived and in October 1931 they moved to Brussels to the address Brusselse Steenweg 16.
Leendert and his wife Henriette were deported from Mechelen to Auschwitz 15 January 1943 with Convoy XVIII (18). The Memorial of the deportation of the Belgian Jews write about Convoy 18 and 19 among others: the Convoys of 15 January 1943 formed after depart from Mechelen just one transport of 1555 deportees. It took 2 ½ months to reach this number of deportees for the convoys of 15 January. The SS-men of the final-solution had to organize raids. Assisted by Belgian agents, mostly Flemish SS-men, they tried to locate hidden Jews in their shelters. Some Jewish finks, most of German nationality, assisted the “sleuths”. Using these kind of means is paradoxical for an anti-jewish organization and signals the end of the final solution. The interruption of the convoys after 15 October 1942 till 15 january 1943 has masked it. Upon arrival 18 January 1943, 1087 persons were gassed immediately. Of the 468 persons, who escaped the immediate killing, only a few survived the liberation of the camps: 4 of the 18th and 7 of the 19th convoy.
Based on the date of arrival of the 18th Convoy in Auschwitz of 18 January 1943, it can be determined that the recorded dates of death for Leendert Wurms of 16 January 1942 and for Henriette de Hond of 1 January 1943 are wrong dates. It is possible that they were killed upon arrival 18 January, but they also could have been registered in the camp and lost their lives at a later date. The exact dates of death are unknown.
His son Barend was already deported from Mechelen to Auschwitz 25 August 1942 with Convoy V and has been killed there. His son Jozeph survived the Shoah. He married Adele Oppenheimer from Venlo 11 March 1953 in Anderlecht and went living in Maastricht. Jozeph Wurms passed away in Maastricht 1 May 1999 and his wife Adele Oppenheimer died there 24 August 2008. Both have been interred there too.
City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card of Leendert Wurms; the Dossier of Foreigners of the city of Antwerp, nr. 183610, image 629-641; the Memorial of the deportation of the Belgian Jews, pages 22, 23 and 580; the website Het Stenen Archief and an addition of a visitor of the website.