Samuel Schachna Zangen was a son of Mendel Zangen and Reizel Araten. His mother was widowed at a young age when his father died at the age of 36 in 1904. After the birth of his eldest sister in Warschau, the Zangen family moved to Rozwadow in the district of Subkarpaten in the South-East of Poland. Before the war. Rozwadow was a thriving stettl. There Samuel Schachna was born on 16 July 1897 as the sixth of seven children Zangen. His siblings were Channa Lieba, Simon Mamcia, Emilie Mirl, Lewi Isak, Adele en Israel Jacob.
Children of Reizel Zangen who have survived the Holocaust were Channa Liebe Zangen, her husband Josef Rosenzweig and her son Hermann Jacob. Their daughter Hanna left for Tel Aviv in 1934 after she married there Ignatz Lichtblau; Also Reizel’s son Simon Mamcia Zangen, his wife Mirel Kanner and both their sons Menda and Oskar have survived the Shoah. All others have been killed in the Shoah.
All members of the Zangen family arrived aroung 1920 from Rozwadow via Vienna in the Netherlands where they lived in Scheveningen.Per 1 January 1921 Samuel Schachna and his youngest brother Israel Jacob lived with their mother Reizel Zangen-Araten at Rotterdamschestraat 6 in Scheveningen. Then, in 1922, Reizel moved to Middelburgsestraat 69 and in 1924 to Leuvenschestraat 31 and Samuel Schachna and his brother moved along with their mother too.
On 3 June 1925 Samuel Schachna Zangen married in Den Haag Chawa Hadassa Landau, who was born 23 November 1900 in Przebieczauch (municpality Wieliczka) located South-East of Krakow in Poland as the daughter of the diamond merchant Majera (Meijer) Schachne Landau and Chany Aratin. On 21 May 1926 Samuel Schachna and his wife Chawa Hadassa were naturalized as Dutch Citizens. so when their son Mendel Saul Elias was born 3 January 1928, he received the Dutch nationality too.
Afther the wedding of Samuel and Chawa in June 1925, the couple lived at Arnhemschestraat 20a, however, before they left Scheveningen for Belgium on 13 November 1928, they also have resided at Harstenhoekweg 31 and at Leuvenschestraat 31. At the time of his marriage, Samuel was a merchant in colonial goods; in Belgium, he became a diamond merchant.
In Belgium, the Zangen family started at Mareestraat 5 in Borgerhout but per 30 Demember 1928 they moved to Antoon van Dijckstraat 71 in Antwerp. From the autumn of 1940 the Belgian Jews were obliged to register in the so-called Register of Jews which was actually the beginning of the persecution of Jews in Belgium. For an unknown reason the German authorities had taken his I.D. card in 1941, which he however did receive again on 11 September 1941. Until the moment that the Zangen family probably made efforts to escape from Antwerp via France to Switzerland to evade the persecution of the Jews, they still lived in the Antoon van Dijckstraat 71, which also became their last known residence.
During their escape, Samuel Schachna Zangen and his wife Chawa Hadassa Landau have been arrested in France and transferred to Drancy, from where they were deported on 18 September 1942 to Auschwitz with convoy 34. Although the date of 18 September 1942 was the date of departure of the convoy to Auschwitz, the Belgian government issued two death certificates for Samuel Zangen and Chawa Landau on 28 May 1955 under number 1955/ B337 in which both their date of death was established at an unknown location on 18 September 1942.
Their son Mendel Saul Elias Zangen managed to survive the Holocaust in Switzerland; in 1947 he reported in Antwerp, in possession of a Dutch Passport which was issued in April 1946 in Geneva; he was a student and wanted to continue studying chemistry at the University of Brussels.
Sources among others: the Municipal Archive of Den Haag, family registration cards of Samuel Schachna Zangen, Israel Jacob Zangen and Reizel Zangen-Araten; website Geni.com/Mendel Zangen; website US Holocaust Memorial Museum/ Belgian Register of Jews; the Dossier of Foreigners of the City of Antwerp, nr. 203693, images 951-970; the Mémorial de la Shoah/Samuel and Chawa Zangen and the certificates of death, made out by the City of Antwerp on 28 May 1955, nr. 1955-B.337 for Samuel Schachna Zangen and Chawa Hadassa Landau.