Israel Lens, born 16 February 1896 in Den Haag, was a son of Elkan Lens and Flora Kosman and he was a milkman by profession. On 25 Augusgt 1926 he married in Amsterdam Susanna van Leer, born there on 26 February 1892 and a daughter of Simon van Leer and Sarah Bing. After the wedding in 1926 Israel and his wife Susanna lived at Van der Neerstraat 117 in Den Haag but in 1931 they moved to the Falckstraaqt 8 there. The Lens-van Leer couple had one daughter, Flora, who was born in Den Haag on 28 June 1927.
Israel Lens was born into a family of seven children, of whom the youngest brother in 1921 had died at the age of 11. One brother has survived the Holocaust but Israel’s other four sibs were killed during the Shoah, just like his parents and he himself.
The parents of Susanna van Leer had died already before the war. They had a family of eight children, of whom two babies died already before their first birthday and one son has survived the Holocaust. The other five children were killed during the Shoah.
It was presumably March 1942, when Israel Lens was ordered to report in State Labour Camp (Rijkswerkkamp) Mantinge in the province of Drenthe and it is known that the forced laborers had to work hard: dig ditches, dig land and build roads. In the night of 2/3 October 1942 (Yom Kipur) all Jewish labour camps in the Netherlands were “emptied” on orders of the German occupiers and all forced labourers were taken to Westerbork, on foot or otherwise. His wife and daughter were then left behind in Den Haag, were up from 22 August 1942 the first raids had taken place. As part of the so-called "family reunification", they were brought into Westerbork on 3 October 1942, on which they were deported to Auschwitz on 5 October as "reunited family".
The transport of 5 October 1942 contained more than 2000 deportees, including the first forwarding of the 10.000 men from the Jewish Labour Camps. The train made a stop at Kozel, a place located ± 80 km west from Auschwitz, where 550 boys and men between 15 and 50 years of age were forced to leave the train. They were all deployed as forced labourers in the surrounding labour camps of Auschwitz. However, those, who remained in the train were transported onwards to Auschwitz to be killed there, among them also Susanna Lens-van Leer and her daughter Flora. On arrival there on 8 October 1942 they botht were killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau .
Israel Lens also belonged to the group of 550 men who were forcedly taken from the train. It appeared only in 2015 that he eventually ended up as Jewish forced labourer in the "Reichs Autobahnlager St. Annaberg” in Upper Silesia in Poland. After the war, it was known that Israel Lens had not survived the Shoah, but not where, when and under what circumstances he had lost his life. Therefore, on order of the Ministry of Justice after the war, the Municipality of Den Haag had drawn up a certificate of death for Israel Lens, in which was established that he has died on 31 August 1943 in Mid Europe.
However, during the research in 2015 in Poland to victims of among others the labour camp “Reichs Autobahnlager St.Annaberg” in Upper Silesia, several certificates of death were found, including those of Israel Lens. This document showed that he has died 18 December 1942 in labour camp St.Annaberg. On the death certificate is mentioned as official cause of death “gangrene and body decay” (Gangraen und Körperverfall).
By establishing the date of death of Israel Lens however, the official Dutch date of death and place of 31 August 1943 in Mid Europe is maintained, a juridical date and place established after the war by the Dutch Department of Justice.
Sources include the Municipal Archive of Den Haag/Peoples Registry, family registration card of Israel Lens; City Archive of Amsterdam, family regisgtration card of Simon van Leer; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Israel Lens, Susanna Lens-van Leer en Flora Lens; website Stichting Joods Erfgoed Den Haag; website jodentransporten vanuit Nederland; certificates of death for Israel Lens C3853 and for Susanna van Leer C970 made out in Den Haag and Edward Haduch, Kedzierzyn-Kozle (Poland),the certificate of death of Israel Lens from the Peoples Registry (Standesamt) Annaberg.