Jonas Fresco, born 7 February 1893 in Den Haag, was a son of Marcus Fresco and Rika Fresco. He was a painter by profession and unmarried. His parents, who were married in 1888, have passed already before the war: his mother in 1932 and his father in 1937. Jonas had two other brothers: Levie, born in 1888, living in Den Haag with his wife and three children and Salomon, who was born in 1891 and lived in Oss with his wife and also his three children. Jonas himself and his brothers with their families have been killed during the Shoah. Since 4 January 1937, Jonas lived at Spui 210 a in Den Haag, which was also the address from where was carried off to Westerbork in October 1942. He previously lived 2 years at Spui 84 a and up from 1932 till 1935 at Hofwijckplain 31.
In Den Haag, within the framework of the so-called “family reunification”, families, of whom member were employed in Dutch labor camps, were collected from their homes in the night of 2 October 1942 and taken to Westerbork. Jonas’ brother Salomon, who lived in Oss, had been deployed as forced laborer in the labor camp Twilhaar in Overijssel and from there taken to Westerbork on 2 October. His wife “joined” him (forcedly) and both were deported on 5 October 1942 to Auschwitz where they were immediately killed on arrival there on 8 October 1942. Jonas arrived in Westerbork between 3 and 5 October 1942 and his brother Levie and his wife arrived there about the same time too. On 16 October 1942 they were put on transport to Auschwitz, where on arrival there on 19 October 1942 Levie Fresco and his wife were immediately killed.
The transport of 16 October 1942 was known as one of the many Kozel transports and contained more than 1700 deportees. The train stopped at Kozel, a place located ±80 km west from Auschwitz, where 570 boys and men between 15 and 50 years of age were forced to leave the train. They were destined to become forced laborers in the surrounding labor camps of Auschwitz. Those, who remained in the train were transported onwards to Auschwitz to be killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Jonas Fresco belonged to the group of 570 persons, who had to leave the train and ended up as forced laborer in the “Reichs Autobahnlager” Annaberg in Upper Silesia in Poland. After the war, it was known that Jonas Fresco had not survived the Holocaust, but it was not known where and when and under what circumstances. Therefore on order of the Ministry of Justice after the war, a certificate of death was drawn up in the municipality of Den Haag for Jonas Fresco, in which his place and date of death were established as in Mid Europe on 31 March 1944.
However, in 2015, research was carried out in Poland to victims of among others the labor camp “Reichsautobahnlager Annaberg” in Upper Silesia (Poland) where several certificates of death were found, including those of Jonas Fresco. This document shows that Jonas Fresco died already 1 December 1942 in camp Annaberg. On the death certificate is mentioned as cause of death “myocarditis” (Herzmuskelentzündung).
By establishing the date of death of Jonas Fresco, the official Dutch date of death of 31 March 1944 is maintained, a juridical date established after the war by the Dutch Department of Justice.
Sources include the Municipal Archive of Den Haag; certificate of death made out in Den Haag on order of the Ministry of Justice, nr.C104 dated 12 Jan 1952; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Jonas Fresco, Levie Fresco and Salomon Fresco; website Joods Erfgoed Den Haag/raids and deportations; website Jodentransporten vanuit Nederland and Edward Haduch, Kedzierzyn-Lozle (Poland), the death certificate of Jonas Fresco from the Peoples Registry (Standesamt) Annaberg.