Abraham Wurms was the third of the four children of the greengrocer Juda Wurms and Rebecca Vogel. He was born on 15 June 1918 in Amsterdam. He lived at home with his parents at Tugelaweg 95 1st floor in Amsterdam-East and he worked as shop assistant and later as warehouse clerk.
Just as his other sibs Isaac, Femmetje and Catharina, Abraham was born at Foeliestraat 38 but in 1929 the family moved to Tugelaweg 95 1st floor in the Transvaal district of Amsterdam-East. Abraham was unmarried but his brother Isaac and sisters Femmetje and Cartharina were; as married couple they then left for the addresses of their in-laws, except Femmetje’s husband Jacob Batavier: he came living in at Tugelaweg.
Abraham was “Gesperrt because of function” – exempted from deporation until further notice, as was mentioned on his registration card from the Jewish Council. He was the manager of a “Jewish Room” (Joods Lokaal) and he posessed a ID with number Z138A. A “Jewish Room” was a business/shop/store, were only Jews were allowed to do their shopping. Abraham’s parents were already taken during the major raids, held early October 1942 in Amsterdam and carried off to Westerbork, deported on 9 October to Auschwitz and upon arrival on 12 October 1942 immediately murdered.
It is not clear to what extent that “Sperre” Abraham Wurms has now “helped” with regard to the intended exemption of deportation, because his Jewish Council card shows, that he was also deported to Auschwitz on 2 November 1942. So he too must have been brought to Westerbork in October 1942.
The transport of 2 November 1942 contained 954 deportees; after a stop-over at Cosel, where 260 boys and man between 15 and 50 years of age were forced to leave the train to be put to work in the surrounding labor camps in Upper Silesia. Those, who remained in the train were considered not to be fit for work: in other words, the elderly, the weak or sickly men, women and children, They were transported onwards to Auschwitz and murdered upon arrival there immediately in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
It is almost certain, that Abraham Wurms, then 24 years old, belonged to the group of men fit for work who had to leave the train in Cosel. The Dutch Red Cross publication “Auschwitz volume 3” edited October 1952 – the Cosel transports – it is described that those of the transport of 2 November 1942, who had to leave the train in Cosel, then followed for the most part the route to the labor camps St. Annaberg – Gleiwitz – Oderberg and Seibersdorf, Niederkirch and Ottmuth – Blechhammer and a few to Bismarckhütte/Monowitz.
The Red Cross publication further describes that the men who had to leave the train in Cosel, started their wandering from one forced labor camp to another. Due to the numerous disclocations, determining places and dates of death for large groups of these men is very difficult.
However, there is one circumstance that offers an important basis for this conclusion, namely that the vast majority of them ended up in the large “forced labor- and concentration camp Blechhammer” in the course of time (end 1942 to the first half of 1944). Nevertheless, it is not known where and exactly when Abraham Wurms has died.
After the war, the Dutch Authorities therefore determined, after investigations and testimonials from survivors, that Abraham Wurms has died on 30 November 1943 in the vicinity of Auschwitz. On 27 January 1961 the Municipality of Amsterdam was commissioned to draw up a certificate of death for Abraham Wurms, in which is registered that he has died in the vicinity of Auschwitz on 30 November 1943.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card of Juda Wurms, archive card Abraham Wurms, birth certificate 6807 Abraham Wurms; the file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration card of Abraham Wurms; Wikipedia website jodentransporten vanuit Nederland.nl/2 Nov 1942; Dutch Red Cross publication Auschwitz volume 3 – edited October 1952 – the Cosel Period/transport 2 Nov 1942/various pages; certificate of death for Abraham Wurms, made out in Amsterdam dated 27 January 1961 nr. 30 from the A-register 117-folio 5v.