Mozes van Leeuwen was a son of Alexander van Leeuwen and Veronica Pos. He was born on 12 June 1904 in Den Haag and he was known as a dealer in woolen goods. He married on 24 August 1927 in Den Haag Maria de Jong, born in Haarlem on 17 December 1902 as a daughter of David de Jong and Sara Cohen. The couple had one daughter on 18 July 1928 named Veronica.
After Mozes van Leeuwen has left his parental home, he lived in Den Haag at various addresses, as i.e. the Jacob Catsstraat, the St. Jacobstraat, the Hemsterhuisstraat and in the Wagenstraat 64, where Mozes van Leeuwen and his bride Maria de Jong moved in on 24 August 1927. Maria however came to Den Haag to be registered there only by the time of her wedding. They resided in the Wagenstraat till 4 September 1928 and then moved to Haarlem at the address Donkere Spaarne 54-red. At some point, the Van Leeuwen family moved in Haarlem again to Korte Heerenstraat 6, which would turn out to be also their last known address in the Netherlands.
Mozes van Leeuwen was also an undertaker in Haarlem. He was a member and a bearer of the “chewra kadieshah Gemilut Hassadiem”. Such a chewra kadishah, consisting entirely of volunteers, often bears the name “Gemilut Hassadim”, the litteral meaning of which is “to show allegiance”, which can be found in Jacob’s final will (Bereeshite/Genisis 47:29). They, these volunteers, who are ready to wash the dead at any time of their lives, are the only service for which no thank you can be said. Source: https://joodsleven.nl/jodendom/Rouw/Rouwperiod-2.ht. Mozes held another position at the N.I.G. Haarlem: in addition to being a member of the chewra and bearer, he was also a cleaner of the building of the Community building.
From the registration cards of Mozes van Leeuwen and his daughter Veronica from the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, it appeared that they have received a call for the so-calles provision of additional work in Germany – the Arbeitseinsatz. On 27 August 1942 they had to report in Westerbork and on 28 August they were put on transport to Auschwitz. This was the first transport of the so-called Kozel-period, where trains made a stop near Kozel, which was located ± 80 km west from Auschwitz. From this transport 170 boys and men between 15 and 50 years of age were forced to leave the train in Kozel to be deployed as forced labourers in the surrounding labor camps of Auschwitz. Those who remained in the train were transported onwards to Auschwitz to be killed there.
Very much likely, Mozes van Leeuwen belonged to this group of 170 men, who had to leave the train in Kozel. Eventually he ended up in the camp Gross Rosen, where he has lost his life on 7 February 1945. His daughter, the 14-year old Veronica van Leeuwen had been transported onwards to Auschwitz and on arrival there on 31 August 1942, she was immediately killed in the gas chambers there.
The registration card of Maria de Jong from the file cabinet of the Jewish Council shows that she had not received a call for the Arbeitseinsatz. Maria was only carried off to Westerbork on 6 May 1943 where she stayed in barrack 55. On 11 May she was deported to Sobibor, where she was killed immediately in the gas chambers there upon arrival on 14 Mau 1943.
Sources include the website wiewaswie.nl/wedding Van Leeuwen-De Jong; Municpal archive Den Haag/family registration card of Mozes van Leeuwen; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Mozes van Leeuwen, Maria van Leeuwen-de Jong and Veronica van Leeuwen; the book Extermination camp Sobibor by Jules Schelvis/transport list of 11 May 1943 for Maria van Leeuwen-de Jong; certificate of death C-42 made out in Haarlem for Veronica van Leeuwen, dated 20 January 1951 and nr. C-200 for Mozes van Leeuwen, dated 14 December 1951 and the Wikipedia listing of jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl.