Jacobs-Stad family. Collection

Jacob (Jacques) Jacobs was born in Brussels on 5 May 1877, as the son of the Dutch-Jewish couple Samson Jacobs and Rebecca Joseph. Jacob Jacobs held Belgian nationality and became a dentist. His older brother Simon Jacobs (b. 03/03/1876 in Anderlecht, Brussels) was a well-known dental surgeon. Jacob Jacobs married Françoise Stad. She had been born on 16 November 1878 in Antwerp, Belgium, as the daughter of Joel Stad and Sara Terveen. Françoise also held Belgian nationality. Jacob Jacobs and Françoise Stad had five children, all born in Brussels : Joel (date unknown), Sara (b. 04/07/1903), Samuel (b. 11/11/1909), Isidore (b. 18/04/1913) and Joseph (b. 11/04/1916). All children became active in trade. Oldest son Joel Jacobs was probably the first to get married. His wife (unidentified) gave birth to their son Jacques Jacobs in 1925. On 23 January 1930, only daughter Sara Jacobs married the Dutch draper Mozes Theeboom (b. 10/04/1906 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands). Their daughter Keetje Theeboom was born on 22 December 1931 in Anderlecht, Brussels. Around 1935, second son Samuel Jacobs married Dora Efira (b. 06/02/1915 in Antwerp). A child also named Jacques was born in Uccle, Brussels, on 4 December 1937. Third son Isidore Jacobs married Delphine Presburg (b. 16/10/1922 in Anderlecht, Brussels). Their child also named Jacques Jacobs was born in 1940. Youngest son Joseph Jacobs married Lea Gelfged (b. 22/12/1919 in Brussels) on 12 December 1940. All family members shared a house in Brussels. In May 1940, oldest son Joel Jacobs fled with his own son Jacques Jacobs (born in 1925) to France and from there to Madeira. They survived the war and reached Brazil in 1950. The only other Jacobs family members to survive the war were grandmother Françoise Stad, daughters-in-law Delphine Presburg and Lea Gelfged and grandson Jacques Jacobs (born in 1940), who all went into hiding in Belgium. Grandfather Jacob (Jacques) Jacobs passed away in Liège during the war (date unknown). Cousins Jacques Jacobs (born 1925), living in Brazil, and Jacques Jacobs (born 1940), living in Belgium, re-established contact after the war. All other Jacobs family members were deported from the Dossin barracks to Auschwitz Birkenau and were killed : Mozes Theeboom via Transport XIX, Samuel Jacobs, Dora Efira, Jacques Jacobs (born 1937), Isidore Jacobs and Joseph Jacobs via Transport XXII B, and Sara Jacobs and Keetje Theeboom via Transport XXIII.

In 2012 cousins Jacques Jacobs from Brussels, Belgium, and Jacques Jacobs from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, donated digital copies of two photos to Kazerne Dossin in order to add the portraits of several Jacobs family members to the commemoration wall at the museum. Their grandmother Françoise Stad had taken the family photos with her when she went into hiding during the war and thus saved them.

Jacques Jacobs and Jacques Jacobs, 2012