Nachman Dov Berl Hönig (also written as Henig) was usually named Berl. He was born 10 February 1891 as son of Gherson Henig and Cipi Feit in Ustrzyki, located in South-East Poland, bordering the Ukraine which belonged until 1918 still to the Habsburg Monarchy.
Berl Hönig was married in Vienna 14 May 1916 to Emilie Mirl Zangen, born in Rozwadow in Poland on 23 March 1893 as daughter of Mendel Zangen and Reisch/Reizel Araten. On 22 May their son Mendel Henig was born.
The Hönig family lived in Vienna, from where they arrived in The Netherlands. Mirl was registered in the Peoples Registry of Den Haag per 27 August 1920 but Berl and his son Mendel were registered during the Census 1920/1921. Since autumn 1920 the couple lived at Renbaanstraat 10 in Scheveingen but moved per 1 January 1921 to Van Tuyllstraat 19, a side street of the Renbaanstraat. The profession of Berl was registered as “traveler”. (later he was a merchant).
On 19 July 1928 Berl, Mirl and their son Mendel left Scheveningen again for Vienna, which became their permanent residence then. Between 1928 and 1940 Berl travelled several times to the United States of America.
In 1939 Mirl Zangen arrived again in Holland and stayed at Yperschestraat 2 in Schevenigen. Her mother, Reizel Hönig-Araten lives in Den Haag at Scheldestraat 125 upper house and her siblings Channa Lieba, Adele, Simon Mainca, Lewsi Isak, Samuel Schachna and Israel Jacob Zangen with their respective families live in Scheveningen too.
As a result of the mandatory evacuation of the coastal area, ordered by the German occupiers as they were afraid for an English invasion, Mirl Zangen arrived in Gouda on 25 February 1941 where she came to live at Lage Gouwe 90 and per 23 October 1941 at Lage Gouwe 98.
Meantime, Berl Hönig and also his son Mendel, stayed probably among others in Antwerp. However, Berl arrived at Lage Gouwe 98 in Gouda on 17 October 1942 but left there again with his wife Mirl the next day, V.O.W. (officially: Left Unkown Where to), after which the Gouda police commissioner requested that Mirl Zangen, residing in Gouda, be located, detained and brought to trial. She (not Berl) was suspected of having changes her place of residence without the required authorization. This description referred to Jews who had gone into hiding.
Further research has shown that Berl and Mirl Hönig have lived in Nice at 25, Rue Thiers. They have been part of a group of Jewish refugees who ended up in Southern France and from there they fled to Italy, which had been occupied already by the Germans, as a result of which they were also trapped there.
Berl Hönig and Mirl Zangen were arrested 18 September 1943 in the Italian Borgo San Dalmazzo, northeast of the French city of Nice and located in the province of Cuneo, where they were interned in a collection camp. On 21 November 1943, the were transported from there to Drancy in France with convoy 04a. And in November the following currency and jewelry were confiscated from Berl: 1650 Italian Lires, 40 Dutch Guilders, 50 French Francs, 1 US Dollar, a golden watch, a golden bracelet and a golden brooch.
From Drancy in France, both were deported with convoy 64 on 7 December 1943 to Auschwitz, which has arrived there 10 December 1943. Presumably Berl Hönig and his wife Mirl Zangen were immediately killed in Auschwitz on arrival there.
Their son Mendel Henig survived the Holocaust. At the age of 36 and unmarried he left Rotterdam in 1950 with the S.S. Veendam to New York where he ended up at 407 Central Park West. Later, he lived in Tel Aviv and left two testimonies for his parents at Yad Vashem on 4 July 1999.
Sources among others: Municipal Archive of Den Haag, family registration card of Berl Hönig; registrations in the Peoples Registry of Den Haag of other Zangen Families; the archive of Midden Holland; Person Card of Mirl Zangen by the Municipality of Gouda; Joods Gouda, volume II by Tom Verwaijen; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Mirl Zangen; website Cedec: Centro die Documentatione Ebraica; Memories of the Jews deported from Italy 1943-1945/Liliane Picotto; Yad Vashem; and the website Mémoral de la Shoah.
Other sources:
http://digital-library.cdec.it/cdec-web/persone/detail/person-3786/henig-nachman-dov-berl.html
http://digital-library.cdec.it/cdec-web/persone/detail/person-689/zangen-emilie-mirl.html