Hijman Vos was the second child of Wolf Vos and Henriette van Leeuwen. He was born in Amsterdam on 23 June 1907 but left already with his mother and his brother Lion, who was born later on 16 December 1908, to Antwerp. His father was a diamond worker and stayed already often in Belgium to earn a living there.
On 18 January 1909 also mother Henriette Vos van Leeuwen left Amsterdam for Antwerp with her son Hijman and the just born Lion, and joined her husband Wolf, who then lived at Provinciestraat 188 in Antwerp. From there they moved to Deurne and Borgerhout, where on 11 February 1913 their third child Lea was born. Up from 1 Apri 1914 the entire family of Wolf Vos lived at Rolwagenstraat 84 in Borgerhout.
Hijman Vos married Elisabeth de Metz on 5 May 1931 in Deurne. She was born in Borgerhout on 9 May 1911 as daughter of Gaim de Metz and Henriette Cohen de Lara. The couple had three children, namely Henriette, born 4 October 1931 in Antwerp and after the family then returned to Amsterdam on 29 April 1932, there were born on 1 December 1936 daugther Lya Regina and on 7 April 1939 daughter Willy.
That 29th of April 1932, when the Vos family arrived from Antwerp in Amsterdam, they found living space with Hijman’s mother Henriette Vos-van Leeuwen at Hertzogstraat 6 downfloor. But already one month later, on 26 May 1932 they moved into a house at Tugelaweg 139 2nd floor, moved on 10 April 1936 to Kromme Mijdrechtstraat 77 1st floor and per 1 March 1937 their address became Cilliersstraat 19 1st floor in Amsterdam-East, a side street of the Tugelaweg.
In the night of 16 to 17 March 1943 the Hijman Vos family was arrested and carried off to the concentration camp Vught. Of Hijman is known that he ended up there in barrack 4A. Of Elisabeth and her children it that unkown. On 6 and 7 June the so-called Children Transports from Vught were carried out, which were two mass deportations of all present Jewish children and those who accompanied them, from Vught via Westerbork deported to Sobibor in Poland. The more than 1000 children, aged from 0 – 16 years were all killed on arrival there.
Hijman Voa, his wife Elisabeth de Metz and their children Henriette, Lya Regina and Willy arrived in Westerbork on 7 June of which is known that Elisabeth de Metz that night stayed in barrack 58. The next day, 8 June 1943 the transport left for Sobibor with in total 3017 deportees, men, women and children, among them the Hijman Vos family. On 11 June 1943 the transport arrived in Sobibor and all deportees were inmmediately killed upon arrival there in the gas chambers of Sobibor.
Sources include The Felix archive of Antwerp/dossier of foreigners with Hijman Vos 1807 no. 128556; the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration cards of Gaim de Metz, Wolf Vos and Hijman Vos, archive cards of Hijman Vos and Elisabeth de Metz; residence cards of Amsterdam of Kromme Mijdrechtstraat 77 and Cilliersstraat 19I; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Hijman Vos, Elisabeth Vos-de Metz, Lya Regina Vos and Willy Vos; website ITS Arolson, camp cards of Hijman Vos, Elisabeth de Metz, Henriette Vos, Lya Regia Vos and Willy Vos; the Wikipedia website Kindertransporten (Children Transports) – only Dutch language; Transportlist of 8 June 1943 Westerbork-Sobibor from the book Extermination Camp Sobibor by Jules Schelvis and the wikipedia website jodentansporten vanuit Nederland.nl.