David van West, born on 20 June 1912 in Amsterdam as the son of Willem van West and Rosetta Kloot, had become a tailor by trade. On 2 October 1940, he married Gabrielle Gazan (nickname Gaby) in Rotterdam, who was born on 21 August 1912 in Wanfercéé Baulet, Wallon/Belgium. Her parents were Louis Gazan and Jeanne Louise Genot, who were officially married in The Hague on 8 January 1919. Gabrielle, therefore, was a pre matrionial child, but was not formally recognized as their daughter until 31 July 1922.
David's parents, Willem van West and Rosette Kloot, had moved from Amsterdam to Rotterdam in 1931 and from September 1940 they lived at Nieuwe Binnenweg 295d. When David married Gaby Gazan in October 1940, they moved into accommodation at Nieuwe Binnenweg 295b. David and Gaby had 2 children, namely Elisabeth and Rosette, both of whom, like their mother, survived the war.
David van West was arrested somewhere between 3 and 5 October 1942 when the Germans were conducting large-scale raids and taken to Westerbork. On 29 July, he and his wife Gabrielle Gazan were set-back from deportation, which was a temporary exemption. However, at the beginning of October 1942, it was only David van West who ended up in Westerbork, where he stayed in barracks 56 and 59. His wife Gabrielle had already been formally “sperrt” (exempted from deportation) in September 1942.
David's wife descended from a Belgian Genot family, who were certainly non-Jewish but most likely Catholic. He was therefore formally mixed married and from the moment he was in Westerbork, he made efforts to prove this and requested through the “Antragstelle” and Jewish Council to send papers showing the Aryan ancestry of his wife and mother-in-law. The course of the further proces turned out to be successful and resulted on 4 December 1942 in the release of David van West from Westerbork. (also read "the release of David van West from Westerbork").
David returned to Rotterdam where he died on 1 April 1944 and was buried in the Toepad Jewish Cemetery. Striking however is the death of Louis Gazan too, his father in law of 3 April 1944 in Rotterdam. He too was interred in the Jewish Cemetery Toepad in Rotterdam. Striking that they have deceased nearly at the same time, but it is unkown whether there is a connection or not.
Sources include the Amsterdam City Archives, family registration cards of Willem van West and David van West; Birth certificate 6599 from Amsterdam for David van West; death certificate 1784 from Rotterdam for David van West; marriage certificate 4589 from Rotterdam of David van West x Gabrielle Gazan; Delpher historical newspapers/Genot families in Belgium; the archives of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Gabrielle van West-Gazan and David van West; websitestenenarchief.nl/graf David van West and Louis Gazan and information from Raymund Schütz.