Krijn-Dreyfuss family. Collection

Salomon Krijn (sometimes Kryn) was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on 8 February 1868, and became a diamond cutter. In 1894 he emigrated to the United States of America and settled in New York, where he married Bertha Dreyfuss on 29 December 1895. Bertha had been born in Hattersheim am Main, Germany, on 21 February 1872. In New York, Bertha gave birth to four children, two of whom survived their infancy: Hattie, born on 15 August 1899, and Alexander, born on 18 March 1903. The Krijn-Dreyfuss family then returned to Amsterdam, where a son named Reginald was born on 2 July 1906. In May 1909, Salomon and Bertha Krijn-Dreyfuss and their three children arrived in Antwerp, Belgium. They settled at Beukenstraat 61 in Borgerhout, where a daughter named Clementine was born on 3 October 1911. During the First World War the Krijn-Dreyfuss family returned to the Netherlands, where their youngest child Simon was born on 2 October 1914. All members of the Krijn-Dreyfuss family held Dutch nationality. Upon their return to Belgium in 1919 Salomon, Bertha and their five children first lived at Provinciestraat 237 in Antwerp. In 1927 they moved to Kroonstraat 198. All three sons were active in the diamond industry, while daughters Hattie and Clementine became hairdressers. On 26 January 1931, eldest son Alexander Krijn married the non-Jewish Belgian Maria Meuris. They divorced in 1934, after which Alexander left for South-Africa, where, on 2 April 1935, he married Frances Dagmar Cohen (born in Kimberley, South-Africa, on 13 April 1904). Mid-May 1935 the couple arrived in Belgium and moved in with Alexander’s parents and siblings who were then living at Plantin en Moretuslei 133 in Borgerhout. In February 1936, Alexander and Frances set up home at Van der Meydenstraat 36. On 5 August 1939 second son Reginald Krijn married Cecilia Huber (born on 12 November 1911 in Guliesti, Romania). After their wedding, the couple moved to Nottebohmstraat 33. On 10 May 1940 Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium. Eldest son Alexander Krijn (who had been born in New York) and his wife Frances Cohen fled via France and Portugal to the United States of America, where they survived the war. The couple remained childless and continued to live in the United States, where Alexander passed away in 1970 and Frances in 1971. Meanwhile, in Antwerp, the other members of the Krijn-Dreyfuss family were forced to obey the anti-Jewish decrees. At the end of 1940 Salomon, Bertha and their four remaining children all registered in the municipal Jewish register. On 25 February 1941 disaster struck, when father Salomon passed away after suffering several brain bleeds a week earlier. It was up to youngest daughter Clementine to inform her brother Alexander in New York about the death of their father Salomon. On 18 July 1942 second son Reginald Krijn, who was then living at Kroonstraat 193 in Borgerhout, was deported to Northern France by Organisation Todt, the German construction company responsible for building the Atlantic Wall. Reginald was one of 288 Jewish men from Antwerp, sent to the Les Mazures labour camp in the French Ardennes. On 21 October 1942, Reginald and most of the others were transferred to the SS-Sammellager Mecheln (Dossin barracks). On 24 October 1942 transport XV carried them to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where Reginald Krijn perished on 8 January 1943. Meanwhile, in Antwerp, his wife Cecilia Huber had been arrested at home during the first large anti-Jewish raid in Antwerp (night of 16 on 17 August 1942). She had been deported from the Dossin barracks to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport V on 25 August 1942 and would also be killed. Reginald would not be the only child of Salomon and Bertha Krijn-Dreyfuss to be murdered during the Holocaust. In late July 1942 youngest daughter Clementine Krijn had received an Arbeitseinsatzbefehl, a work order. She presented herself at the Dossin barracks on 1st August 1942 and was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport II on 11 August 1942. Clementine Krijn was also killed. The Summer of 1942 was a turning point for eldest daughter Hattie Krijn too. Although she held Dutch nationality, she had been born in the United States. As a protective measure, Hattie obtained American citizenship. However, in October 1942 the German Sicherheitspolizei-Sicherheitsdienst (Sipo-SD), responsible for the deportation of Jews from Belgium, investigated Hattie’s case since she was Jewish. Hattie did not await further news. On 27 October 1942, she and her mother Bertha Dreyfuss left Antwerp and made their way to Paris where they joined youngest sibling Simon Krijn who had fled Antwerp on 28 July 1942, perhaps to avoid being called up for forced labour as well. In April 1943, Bertha, Simon and Hattie moved to Menthon-Saint-Bernard, France, where all three of them survived the war. The three of them returned to Antwerp in early July 1945, where Bertha passed away a few days later, on 12 July 1945. Siblings Hattie and Simon remained in Antwerp. Hattie remained unmarried, but Simon wed Base Jezruchs with whom he had a child.

On 16 January 1996, Simon Krijn kindly donated the original documents in this collection to the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance, predecessor of Kazerne Dossin.

Simon Krijn, 1996