Cohen-de Vries family. Collection

Hersch Mozes Cohen was born in Antwerp, Belgium, on 14 June 1905 as the son of Mozes Cohen and Hilletje Pollak. Hersch was raised in the port city, but when, in 1914, the First World War broke out his family fled to the Netherlands, the country of birth of both Hersch’s parents. In June 1919 the Cohens returned to Antwerp and settled at Grammestraat 33. However, Hersch again lived in Amsterdam from 1921 until 1928. He earned a living as a tradesman, selling table cloths. After his definitive move to Belgium in 1928 Hersch met the Dutch Alida De Vries. She had been born in Amsterdam on 25 May 1909 as the daughter of Salomon de Vries and Mietje Gans. Alida, her mother and two sisters had immigrated from the Netherlands to Belgium in November 1925. Her father had started a textile business in Antwerp in 1922, where Alida worked as a secretary. Hersch and Alida got married in Antwerp on 4 April 1933. They first created a home for themselves at Vestingstraat 53. It is there that their son Maurice alias Maurits was born on 18 September 1935. As the child was often ill Alida quitted her job at her father’s company and became a stay-at-home mother. On 29 December 1938 the Cohen-de Vries family moved to Adelbert Kennisplein 17 in Deurne where they befriended their neighbours, the Huber-Vanryckegem family, living at number 13. Son Frank Huber, born in 1924, was especially fond of Hersch and Alida, and, although quite a bit older, stopped by regularly to play with their son Maurice Cohen. At least at one occasion, Frank Huber accompanied the Cohen-de Vries family on a trip to the seaside. On 10 May 1940 Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium. The Cohen-de Vries family was subsequently forced to obey the anti-Jewish decrees. Shortly after the introduction of the yellow star of David in June 1942, the Cohen-de Vries family decided to flee Belgium. Alida entrusted her most prized possession, a table cloth only used on Shabbat, to the Huber-Vanryckegem family with the intention of picking it up after the war. The Cohen-de Vries family, on the run, was arrested in July 1942 under unknown circumstances and was sent to the Dossin barracks on 3 August 1942. They were deported via transport II on 11 August 1942. Alida and her son Maurice, who was almost seven years old, were presumably sent to the gas chamber upon arrival. Hersch too did not survive. In 1944 twenty-year-old Frank Huber joined the Witte Brigade [White Brigade] armed resistance movement as he was becoming more and more aware of the fate of the Jewish population. The table cloth of the Cohen-de Vries family was preserved by Frank’s mother Albine Vanryckegem until her death in 1978, and subsequently by Frank’s sister Angèle Huber, who then gave it to Frank’s daughter Ann Huber. Frank Huber passed away in 2014. In 2022 stumbling stones were placed at Adelbert Kennisplein in Antwerp in memory of Hersch Mozes Cohen, Alida de Vries and Maurice Cohen. During the ceremony, Ann Huber told the story of the family and of her father Frank Huber.

The photos in this collection were made by Frank Huber, a neighbour and friend of the Cohen-de Vries family. The table cloth in this collection was entrusted to Frank's mother Albine Vanryckegem by the Cohen-de Vries family before they tried to flee Belgium. Frank's daughter Ann inherited the photos from her father and the table cloth from her aunt Angèle Huber. Ann kindly donated the original object to Kazerne Dossin on 17 April 2023 and permitted the digitisation of the photos in the collection.

Frank and Angèle Huber, represented by Ann Huber, 2023