Mozes da Cunha was a son of Gerson da Cunha and Debora Gompers. He was born on 17 October 1893 in Amsterdam and he was a waiter by profession. On 1 March 1916 he married the 22-year old Belgian Anna maria Cornelia Verreijdt in Antwerp, a daughter of Philip Verreijdt and Maria Elisabeth de Buijser. The couple Da Cunha-Verreijdt had two children, namely Bertha who was born in Groningen in 1916 and in Amsterdam in 1918 Gerritdina was born.
After the passing of his father in 1899, his 37-year old mother remarried the 38-year old widower of Betje Koort, Israël Sealtiel on 21 September 1904. He was a son of David Sealtiel and Sara da Souza Pimentel and in 1906 the Sealtiel-Gompers couple and Mozes da Cunha left for Antwerp. There they have lived at Lange Vanneaustraat 126 and in 1907 in the Van Spangenstraat 2, also with some of the children from the 1st marriage of Israël Sealtiel.
It turned out that the marriage of Israël Sealtiel and Debora Gompers did not last; on 19 June 1916 Debora left for Groningen but her spouse Israël Sealtiel remained in Antwerp and in Amsterdam. In the end, their marriage has been dissolved by divorce on 18 October 1918 in Amsterdam.
In March 1916 Mozes da Cunha followed his mother Debora also to Groningen, where he lived at Zuidersingel 10 with his wife and where their daughter Bertha was born in November 1916. In October 1917, his mother left Groningen for Amsterdam, where she found a house at Zwanenburgerstraat 26. Also Mozes and his wife and little daughter came to Amsterdam and lived in with his mother. Later they all lived together at some more addresses in the city too. Meantime in September 1918 their second daughter Gerritdina was born.
Also the marriage of Mozes did not last: on 11 November 1927 the marriage of Mozes da Cunha to Anna Maria Cornelia Verreijdt also appeared to have been dissolved by a judgment rendered in absentia by the District Court of Amsterdam and which has been registered in the Civil Registry of Amsterdam on 10 January 1928. And when his mother Debora Gompers left for Antwerp again on 12 July 1928 where she came to live in the Carnotstraat 121, also Mozes followed together with his two daughters Bertha and Gerritdina.
Two years later, on 21 July 1930, Mozes, his two daughters and his mother left Antwerp again for Holland where they arrived in Hilversum but already one month later Mozes and his daughters lived in Den Haag in the Merwedestraat 27. In December of that same year, they moved again to Hilversum, to the Kapelstraat 29. In 1933 Mozes and his daughters lived in Amsterdam, at Gerard Doustraat 230 but in September 1935 they left again for Den Haag, to the François Valentijnstraat 91, where the now 68-year old Debora Gompers had also moved.
Mozes da Cunha was arrested in Den Haag on 5 January 1943 and ended up in Westerbork. He is said to have committed a “violation against the occupier” or was arrested for some other reason and was imprisoned in Westerbork in the penal barrack 66. On 11 January 1943 he was put on transport in the first deportation train of 1943 to Auschwitz. Upon arrival there he was put to work as a forced labourerd, but unknown is where, in which “command” he has ended, in or outside the camp, nor is known his precise date of death.
Therefore the Dutch Authorities after the war have decided – also based on testimonials of survivors, research and other information, that Mozes da Cunha no longer could be alive after 30 April 1943. Then the Municipality of Den Haag was commissioned by the Ministry of Justice to draw up a certificate of death for Mozes da Cunha, in which was established that he has died in the vicinity of Auschwitz on 30 April 1943.
Both the daughters of Mozes da Cunha, Bertha and Gerritdina have survived the Holocaust through their mixed marriages.
Sources include the Dossiers of Foreigners of the City of Antwerp, nr. 200878 – images 566-572 for Mozes da Cunha; City Archief of Amsterdam, discarded family registration cards of Mozes da Cunha 1810 – Abraham da Cunha 1826 and Gerson da Cunha 1861; Family registration cards for Israël Sealtiel 1866 – Debora Gompers 1867 and Mozes da Cunha 1893; the Municopal Archive of Den Haag, registrations Population registry of Debora Gompers and Mozes da Cunha; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Mozes da Cunha and the certificate of death for Mozes da Cunha from Den Haag, dated 20 July 1951 nr. C2492.