Abraham Francken was born in Venlo in 1893 to Isidor Francken and Judith Porcelijn. His father was a butcher, and the family lived in Hoogstraat 8. Abraham had four brothers: Emmanuel, Meijer, Maurits en Louis. Both parents are buried in the Jewish cemetery in Venlo.
Abraham left Venlo to Amsterdam in 1910. He worked at a small clothing shop in Vrolikstraat, owned by Jacob Deen. Six years later he married his employer's daughter, Reina (Reintje) Deen. The couple had two daughters, Judith and Rachel (Chelly).
Abraham worked as a manager in the textile factory of De Vries. Around 1928 the family moved to the Maasstraat 129 II, where they were still living when the war started.
In summer 1942 both daughters went into hiding with their husbands, out of fear of being deported to the East.
Abraham and his wife managed to avoid being deported for nearly a year, until they too decided to go into hiding. On Sunday, 20 June 1943, one day before their planned hiding date, the Germans conducted a razzia on their neighbourhood, and they were captured. They were immidiately transported to Westerbork, where they stayed for 9 days. On Tuesday 29 June 1943 they were put on the transport to Sobibor, where they both parished.
The eldest daughter, Judith Francken, married David Heijmans. They went into hiding in July 1942, first in Soest, then in Zeist. In 1945 they were betrayed and captured by the Germans. They were incarcerated in the Zeist police building, awaiting deportation. They were freed by a heroic operation of the Dutch Resistance on 16 January 1945, together with other detainees, and were moved into a new hiding in Driebergen, at the house of Jan and Johanna Wagenaar (who later received the righteous-among-the-nations title from the State of Israel). After the war David en Judith moved to Israel. They had two sons and nine grand-children.
The youngest daughter, Chelly, and her husband Max de Winter, also went into hiding, but were captured and deported to Auschwitz-Birknau. When the Russians came close, the Germans dismantled the camp and made their victims walk by foot towards Gemany, later to be known as the "death marches". Chelly parished with her baby daughter in the death march. Her husband Max survived the war and later re-married.
Out of the four brothers of Abraham Francken only one survived the war, Maurits Francken. He died in Venlo in 1987.
[Written by Shai, the great-grand-child of Abraham Francken, on 9.8.21]