David Gersons was the eldest son of Hartog Gersons and Catharina Jacoba Salomon. He was born in Tilburg on 27 August 1892. And just like his father, David too became a butcher; he ran a beef- calf- and lamb butchery. The David Gersons family lived at Bisschop Zwijsenstraat 47 in Tilburg.
David Gersons married in Tilburg on 14 Novembe 1921 Kaatje Hartog, a daugher of Salomon Hartog and Johanna de Wit. She was born in Tilburg on 29 September 1894. The couple had two children: Catharina born on 29 March 1923; she survived the Holocaust and married Alexander Hes. Son Salomon, who was born on 29 July 1925, drowned in Tilburg on 18 March 1944.
According to notes on the registration cards of the Jewish Council of David and Kaatje, they had been “Zurückgestellt” (postponed) of the so-called “Arbeitseinsatz” in Germany on 27 August 1942. This “Zurückstellung” (postponement) was the forerunner of the later “Sperres”, the exemptions from deportation “bis auf weiteres”. (until further notice).
However, due to "violations" he allegedly committed in May, David Gersons had to report to the Sicherheitsdienst (Security Police) on 22 June 1942. He was then arrested and registered as a prisoner in camp Haaren. David was transported via Camp Amersfoort to Mauthausen, where he was killed on 11 October 1942.
Kaatje Gersons-Hartog was involved in helping the dying and caring for corpses in Tilburg. For Kaatje, the provisional “Zurückstellung” of deportation of 26 August 1942 seems to have changed into an official “Sperre due to function.”
Daughter Catharina obtained such a Sperre from the Jewish Council because she worked for the “H.A.V. – Aid To Departurers” (Hulp Aan Vertrekkenden), for which she had received an I>D. from the Jewish Council on 23 September 1942 with number B-1351.
Their 18-year-old son Salomon Gersons drowned on 18 March 1944 in Tilburg. It has been assumed that he almost certainly took his own life. His mother Kaatje Hartog went into hiding, but was arrested in Tilburg on 2 August 1944, locked up in penal barrack 67 in Westerbork on 15 August and deported to Auschwitz on Sunday, 3 September 1944 with the last transport from Westerbork.
The transport arrived on 5 September 1944 with 1019 deportees, of which 127 people ultimately survived the war. However, not Kaatje Gersons-Hartog: she was murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau after arriving on 6 September 1944.
Souces include the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of David Gersons, Kaatje Gersons-Hartog, Catharina Gersons and Salomon Gersons; Publication “Vermoedelijk op Transport” by Raymund Schütz/chapter 3 page 34 e.o. “From Zurückstellung to Sperre” (Dutch language only); Wikipedia website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl; Death certificate for David Gersons nr 875 of 26 Nov 1942 ( TLB_O_1942_148.tjp), Death certificate 265 for Salomon Gersons of 21 Mar 1944 ( TLB_O_1944_046.tjp) and death certificate 1063 of 31 Dec 1954 for Kaatje Hartog, Auschwitz 6 September 1944 ( TB_O_1954_268.tjp) and :
A. de Beer en G. Kobes, Het leven gebroken. De geschiedenis van de Tilburgers die als gevolg van de strijd tegen Duitsland en de bezetting om het leven kwamen (Tilburg 2002) 37-38, 51, 57. (Broken life. The history of Tilburgians who lost their lives due to the fight against Germany and occupation).