Maurice Joost Son was the eldest of the three children of Joseph Mozes Son and Hermine Fischer. He was born on 18 June 1905 in Breda and was a dentist by profession. On 30 August 1933 he married Edith Hirsch in Rotterdam, who was born in the German city of Linz on 29 October 1908 as a daughter of Heribert Hirsch and Sophie Gottschalk. The couple had two children: Anita Jos in 1936 and Joost Maurice Jos in 1939.
The unmarried Maurice Joost arrived in 1924 from Utrecht in Rotterdam and lived since 14 October 1924 with his parents at the Schiedamseweg 83a. Two months later, on 4 December, he moved with his parents to the Jan Kruijffstraat 43. His mother, who was widowed on 15 March 1927, moved into a house at the Stationsweg 48a and Maurice Joost went along with her.
On 1 October 1933 his mother moved to the Schepenstraat 25c but Maurice remained at the Stationsweg 48a. And when he got married on 30 August 1933 in Rotterdam, his wife Edith Hirsch moved in with him. Only on 5 May 1938 they left the Stationsweg 48a and moved into a house at the Meent 85. His mother changed her address again: per 27 June 1936 she was registered at the address Nieuwe Binnenweg 324c, which would become also her last known formal residence.
On 14 May 1940 the bombing of Rotterdam followed in which many people were killed. His mother – like many others – has tried to find a safe haven elsewhere. His mother found it with her son and family at the Meent 85. But dentist Maurice Joost Son, his 4-year old daughter Anita Jos as well as his mother, the widowed Hermine Son-Fischer and an 18-year old maid, died in the bombing.
Only on 22 May 1940 the Son family members were found dead and buried the same day in plot GG (common grave) at Crooswijk. The servant-maid was mentioned in the register of Crooswijk and for her an obituary was drawn up. Further investigations has not yielded her death certificate so far.
Maurice’s surving spouse, Edith Hirsch and little son Joost Maurice Jos were evacuated on 18 May 1940 from Rotterdam to Amsterdam, where they found shelter with uncle Leo Gottschalk and his wife Wilhelmine Josephine Binsfeld at the Amstelkade 167 3rd floor. They were able to leave the Netherlands for Argentina on 28 December 1940 and survived the war. On 19 May 1941 they were officially deregistered from the Amsterdam Population Register.
Sources include the City Archive of Rotterdam, family registration cards of Joseph Mozes Son and Maurice Joseph Son; wedding certificate Maurice Joost Son x Edith Hirsch; City Archive of Amsterdam, residence card of Amstelkade 167 III; archive card of Leo Gottschalk; Rotterdam address books and information from the research of the Stichting Voorouder to the victims of the bombing of 14 May 1940 on behalf of the Rotterdam City Archive.