Rachel Nabarro, born in Amsterdam on 14 February 1914 as a daughter of Isaac Nabarro and Espinosa, married Emilius Vos, who usually was called Emile, on 8 September 1911 in Borgerhout. He was a son of Andries Vos and Aaltje Bonn. The couple had three children, namely Isaac, Andries and Herman. At the end of the 1930-s, the Vos family lived at Sterrenborgstraat 8 in Borgerhout.
At the end of August 1942, a large raid was held in Antwerp with the help of the Belgian police, during which the family of Emile Vos was also arrested and taken to Caserne Dossin in Mechelen. From there, they were deported with another 1000 persons to Auschwitz with convoy 7 on 1 September 1942. According the the Memorial of the Deportation of the Belgian Jews, this convoy arrived in Auschwtiz on 3 September 1942.
This transport was also a so-called “Kozel transport”, where during a stop at Kozel, located ±80 km west from Auschwitz, 187 men were forced to leave the train, to be deployed as forced labourers in the surrounding labor camps in that region.
It might have been possible, that Emile Vos was one of the men who were sent from Kozel to one of the many labor camps. It is known that Emile survived the Shoah and therefore endured all hardships. He passed away in 1999.
His wife Rebecca Nabarro and his three children Isaac, Andries and Herman met the fate to be one of the 729 deportees who were immediately gassed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau upon arrival on 3 September 1942. No official and/or legal mentions or death certificates have been found, except for Emile's wife Rebecca Nabarro a mention in the Belgian Official Gazette.
The publication in the Belgian Official Gazette of 9 December 1950 states that “a claim has been filed before the Court of the First Instance in Antwerp, seeking a judicial declaration of death of Nabarro, Rebecca, born in the Netherlands on 14 February 1914, daughter of Isaac and Esther Espinosa, no profession, wife of Vos, Emilius, last residing in Borgerhout, Sterrenborgstraat no.8, presumably died in Auschwitz in Poland between 4 September 1942 and 1 June 1945.”
It is certain that also the children Isaac, Andries and Herman were part of this convoy and most likely they have been murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz together with their mother. However, in the absence of a legal document of death, they are included as victims on the Jewish Monument, but due lack of “proof of place and date of death” it is stated that the Municipality and the date of death are unknown.
Sources include the Felix Archive of Antwerp, dossier of foreigners no. 1120#714 from Borgerhout regarding Andries Vos (1883); the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card and archive card of Andries Vos; the Memorial of the Deportation of the Belgian Jews/Convoy 7 of 1 September 1942 and additions of visitors of the website.