Hans Maurits van Messel

Hans van Messel, 8 May 1940

Derde HBS-B, Mauritskade 58-59

Group portrait of class 5A. Standing, right: Hans van Messel.

8 May 1940

(Collectie Stadsarchief Amsterdam)

Hans van Messel's name appears on the memorial at Fusilladeplaats Vught, which commemorates 329 Resistance fighters who were executed there in 1944.

See Hans's name listed among the final victims executed in 1944, along with a map indicating where the memorial is located on the grounds of Nationaal Monument Kamp Vught. 

On 31 January 1957 the United States Office of Alien Property published its intention to return vested property valued at $2,704.09 to Robert and Hans van Messel, their mother ("Mrs. Hedwig"), and eight other Dutch citizens. 

Hans's index card from the Jewish Council card file in Amsterdam (source: arolsen-archives.org). The information office of the Netherlands Red Cross (NLRC) in The Hague created a file for Hans after the war under dossier number 72,039. It contained all the information known at that time about him and his persecution. 

On the left side of the card, the typing by a Jewish Council worker noted Hans's home address, date and location of birth, occupation, marital status, and name of his brother. After the war, NLRC workers hand-wrote in the names and birthdates of his parents, as well as a question written lightly in pencil, "5-9-44 gefusilleerd?" That was the date when Hans was executed at Vught concentration camp along with other resistance members.

The NLRC dossiers are housed in the National Archives in the Hague. In 2021 the NLRC announced its intention to transfer the Jewish Council Index Card Archive to Amsterdam's Jewish Cultural Quarter, which plans to exhibit the archive at the National Holocaust Museum beginning in late 2022.

Hedwig Rebecka van Messel-Marx (2); her husband, Maurits Charles van Messel (1);  and two boys, possibly their sons Robert (second from left) and Hans, in 1929. (source: conam.info)

Persoonskaart for Hans van Messel. (Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief)