Joseph Gompers was a son of Levie Gompers and Anna van Kloeten. He was born on 14 October 1901 in Gouda and he was an electrician, commercial traveller and in Tilburg he was also a vendor at the street market there. He married in Tilburg on 30 October 1928 Paulina Hollander, who was born in Antwerp on 23 September 1905 as a daughter of Abraham Hollander from Antwerp and Anna Maria Catherina Verbuecken from Herenthals (Belgium). The couple Gompers-Hollander had two daughters: on 29 August 1932 Anna was born and on 8 September 1936 Maria Anna Catharina. The family lived in the Veemarktstraat 10 and in the Anna Paulonastraat 24 and at no. 6 in 1942.
Joseph Gompers had to report on 31 July 1942 in the Jewish labor camp Twilhaar in Nijverdal, where he has been deployed as forced labourer. On 2 October 1942, on Yom Kipur, the Jewish Labor camps were liquidated by the Germans and all forced labourers were sent to Westerbork, where they have arrived between 3 and 5 October, among them also Joseph Gompers. A few weeks later, on 19 October 1942, Joseph Gompers was deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz where he probably arrived on 22 October 1942.
It appeared from his registration card from the Jewish Council file cabinet that on 10 February 1943 a letter has arrived from Joseph Gompers, sent on 14 December 1942 from Monowitz, addressed to his father-in-law A. Hollander, Anna Paulonastraat 37 in Tilburg. That would mean that at the age of 41 he would have been deployed a forced labourer in Monowitz after arriving in Auschwitz.
The website Memorial and Museum Auschwitz Birkenau/Auschwitz Prisoners show also that there has been a Joseph Israel Gompers too, who was killed there on 16 December 1942. It could be possible that Joseph Gompers and Joseph Israel Gompers were one and the same person. The sources of Joseph Israel Gompers with prisoner number 63649 are mentioned as Häftlingskrankenbau Auschwitz-Block 28/7 en Leichenhalle (prisoners hospital and morgue).
However, those data from the death books (Sterbebücher) and other sources from Auschwitz were unknown after the war. Therefore the Ministry of Justice has ordered Municipalities in the Netherlands to draw up and file death reports, which were published in the State Gazette of among others on 24 August 1950, stating that Joseph Gompers has died in Auschwitz no later than 28 February 1943.
Paulina Gompers-Hollander and her children Anna and Maria Anna Catharina appear to have reported voluntarily in camp Vught. From the Magazine for history, monuments and culture “Tilburg”, year 31, no. 3 of December 2013 pages 87-89 a cousin wrote the following about the destiny of the Gompers-Hollander family:“Due to the lack of father and husband in the broken Gompers-Hollander family and the thought of family reunification, Paulina decided desperate to volunteer at Camp Vught. With a few suitcases they left by train to Vught on April 9, 1943. They left all other belongings in their home”. Sources for this: surviving and close relatives of the author.
On 5 June 1943 it was announced in Vught that all the children had to leave the concentration camp, together with their mothers. Paulina Hollander and both her daughters Anna and Maria Anna Catharina were deported on 6 June 1943 with the so-called “childrens transport” via Westerbork to Sobibor. In Westerbork they stayed the night of 6 June in barrack 58 and the next day on 7 June they were deported onwards to Sobibor. On arrival there on 11 June 1943 they were all immediately killed in the gas chambers there.
Sources include the Region Archive of Tilburg/Population Registry; the Foreign Dossier nr. 113957-image 23 from the City of Antwerp; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Joseph Gompers, Paulina Gompers-Hollander, Anna Gompers and Maria Anna Catharina Gompers; website Auschwitz Prisoners/Joseph Gompers; Wikipedia website jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl; Magazine for history, monuments and culture “Tilburg”, year 31, December 2013 nr.3 – page 87-89 by Rinus Versluis: "They did not know what to expect". The fate of the family of Joseph Gompers and Paulina Hollander and additions of visitors of the website.