Henriette Vos was a daughter of Mozes Vos and Maria Polak and was born on 24 August 1896 in Amsterdam. She was a diamond worker by profession. As an unmarried mother, she had on 7 April 1935 a daughter who was named Maria. On 1 April 1942 she got married in Amsterdam to Samuel Dresden, who was born on 2 September 1903 as son of Joseph Dresden and Grietje Schrijver. Samuel Dresden was previously married on 7 July 1927 to Naatje Kool in Amsterdam, but divorced from her on 3 March 1938. After being married again to Henriette Vos, Samuel Dresden was registered as the stepfather of the 7-year old Maria Vos.
On 25 August 1930 Henriette Vos lived in the Municipality of Deurne in Belgium at the address Steenlandstraat 41. In her dossier of foreigners was referred that “Henriette lived at the mentioned address with her sister Schoontje Vos, who was married to Jacob Zomerplaag. Henriette had no profession but she also did the housekeeping there. The Zomerplaag family consisted of four persons”.
On 20 February 1934, Henriette Vos returned to Amsterdam, where she has lived at several addresses in the city. On 7 April 1935 she has given birth to her daughter Maria and on 13 July 1935 she moved to Kromme Mijdrechtstraat 59 1st floor in Amsterdam, where also her future husband Samuel Dresden lived. He too stayed in Deurne in Belgium til February 1934, returned then to Amsterdam and lived then for a start at several addresses in town.
Together with her little daughter Maria, Henriette Vos was carried off to concentration camp Vught on 24 July 1943. It is to read on her camp card that Henriette worked there as a seamstress with the Broekhuizen company since 25 August 1943. She was exempted from deportation for the time being there (Sperre number 61255). Yet on 11 September 1943 she and her daughter Maria were transferred from Vught to Westerbork where they ended up in barrack 62.
Samuel Dresden had been working as mechanic at the Kleine Komedie theatre in Amsterdam, but was also a member of the ANDB, the Algemene Nederlandse Diamantbewerkers Bond (the Diamond Union) and he was ranked since 14 March 1919 in department 4 as brilliant cutter. Samuel left for Antwerp on 5 July 1919, returned from there certified on 31 October 1919, was cancelled as a member in June 1922 but admitted again in September 1922. In the end he unsubscribed his membership in April 1930. In Antwerp, where he stayed again since 1930, he was certified again and a member of the Union from 1930 till 1934, after which he returned to Amsterdam and again was subscribed as a member of the ANDB in department 4.
Also Samuel Dresden was taken to Vught on 24 July 1943 and on 12 September 1943 transferred from there to Westerbork, where he ended up too in barrack 62. On 12 September 1943, Samuel Dresden, his wife Henriette Dresden-Vos and her daughter Maria Vos, who was also known as Maria Dresden, were put on transport to Auschwitz. Upon arrival there on 17 September 1943, Henriette and her daughter Maria were immediately murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
However, upon arrival there on the “Rampe” on 17 September 1943, Samuel Dresden was selected as a labourer. He received the prisoners number 150643 and was put to work as a forced labourer at the Buna Werke in the nearby camp Monowitz, also known as Auschwitz III. But on 28 October 1943, he ended up in the prisoners hospital of Buna, from where he was discharged on 2 November and sent to the “Häftlingen Krankenbau in Block 28 in Auschwitz I, where he “was operated” at the surgical ward. Eventually, he lost his life there on 2 January 1944 but unknown is whether he died due to the "surgery" or that he was murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. After the war a certificate of death has been made out by the Dutch authorities in which has been established that Samuel Dresden has died in Auschwitz on 2 January 1944.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, archive cards of Henriette Vos, Maria Vos, Samuel Dresden and Naatje Kool; the Amsterdam residence card of Kromme Mijdrechtstraat 59; membership cards of the ANDB of Samuel Dresden; the Dossier of Foreigners no.1386 from the Municipality of Deurne (Belgium) of Mozes Vos including Henriette Vos; website ITS Arolson, camp cards from concentration camp Vught of Samuel Dresden, Henriette Dresden-Vos and Maria Vos; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Henriette Dresden-Vos, maria Vos, Samuel Dresden and Naatje Kool and the certificate of death no 165 for Samuel Dresden, made out in Amsterdam on 17 August 1951 from the A-register 84-folio 29 verso.