Buvens’ Story – Transport XX • Miracles Docs #9 • 20260604 🇳🇱🇬🇧 🇧🇪🇫🇷

Buvens’ Story – Transport XX • Miracles Docs #9 • 20260604 🇳🇱🇧🇪 Dutch-Flemish (original) • Subtitles: 🇬🇧 English Open Captions & 🇫🇷 🇧🇪 🇳🇱 French, Dutch, Flemish Closed Captions (CC)

SYNOPSIS

Dutch 🇳🇱 — Buvens’ Story Transport XX — Miracles Docs Episode #9 — Documentaire over het verhaal van treinbestuurder Buvens, die in de nacht van 19 april 1943 Transport XX tot stilstand brengt voor een rood licht ‚ op het spoor tussen Boortmeerbeek, Haacht en Hambos. Het verhaal wordt verteld door zijn dochter Marie-José Buvens en getoond in het verslag dat de Belgische Nationale Maatschappij der Spoorwegen (NMBS/SNCB) maakte april 1943, enkele dagen na die aanval op Transport XX naar Auschwitz.
🎬 Korte film van Michel van der Burg & Marc Michiels • Miracles•Media — Nederlandstalig gesproken met Engelse en Franse ondertiteling. Première op 4 juni 2026 bij Miracles•Media.

English 🇬🇧 — Buvens’ Story Transport XX — Miracles Docs Episode #9 — Documentary about the story of train driver Buvens, who on the night of 19 April 1943 brings Transport XX to a halt at a red light on the track between Boortmeerbeek, Haacht and Hambos. The story is told by his daughter Marie-José Buvens and shown in the report that the Belgian National Railway Company (NMBS/SNCB) produced in April 1943, a few days after that attack on Transport XX bound for Auschwitz.
🎬 Short film by Michel van der Burg & Marc Michiels • Miracles•Media — Spoken in Dutch with English and French subtitles. Premiere on 4 June 2026 at Miracles•Media.

Français 🇫🇷 — Buvens’ Story Transport XX — Miracles Docs Épisode #9 — Documentaire sur l’histoire du machiniste de train Buvens, qui dans la nuit du 19 avril 1943 immobilise le Transport XX à un feu rouge sur la voie entre Boortmeerbeek, Haacht et Hambos. L’histoire est racontée par sa fille Marie-José Buvens et illustrée par le rapport que la Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Belges (SNCB/NMBS) a établi en avril 1943, quelques jours après cette attaque contre le Transport XX à destination d’Auschwitz.
🎬 Court métrage de Michel van der Burg & Marc Michiels • Miracles•Media — Parlé en néerlandais avec sous-titres en anglais et en français. Première le 4 juin 2026 chez Miracles•Media.

Documentary

Daughter Marie-José Buvens recounts her father August Buvens’ (1898–1982) account as train driver on Transport XX (D.A.801) — the night of April 19, 1943, when the train stopped at a red light on the track near the towns of Boortmeerbeek, Haacht, and the hamlet of Hambos. Recorded on video tape June 12, 2001 in Kessel-Lo, Belgium, by Marc Michiels. A transcript from this testimony was published online from 2003 at Marc Michiels’ site Holocaust Boortmeerbeek – XXth Convoy (1).

This short documentary film by Michel van der Burg, co-produced with Marc Michiels (†2021), combines that June 2001 testimony of Marie-José Buvens (1,2) with a recently published ‘Special Accident Report’ of the Belgian National Railway Company NMBS/SNCB (‘Bijzonder Ongevalsverslag’) made April 1943 (3), three days after what became known as the attack on the 20th Convoy to Auschwitz — ‘Transport XX’.

Notes

1) August Buvens, engine driver XXth convoy. Marc Michiels. In : Holocaust Boortmeerbeek – XXth Convoy (website). Retrieved from July 18, 2003 snapshot of the website in Marc Michiels Collection (1MEMO_20260604_3) • Miracles•Media • Text from transcript testimony (2) of August Buvens daughter , Mrs Marie-José Buvens on June 12, 2001 in Kessel-Lo, Belgium .

Holocaust Boortmeerbeek – XXth Convoy • Edition 2003 Website Marc Michiels • August Buvens, engine driver XXth convoy • Retrieved from July 18, 2003 snapshot of the website • Marc Michiels Collection • Miracles•Media • 1MEMO_20260604_3 • Screen capture (note : at french page credit address redacted).

A last revision of Marc Michiels’ site (2016) was republished at transportxxboortmeerbeek.be (posthumous) including a copy of this 2003 portrait page of Buvens (Retrieved June 4, 2026) URL https://transportxxboortmeerbeek.be/eng/starten.htm

2) Excerpt 7 minutes from a 44 min interview by Marc Michiels of Marie-José Buvens (from Kessel-Lo; daughter August Buvens), June 12, 2001 , Kessel-Lo (Video Tape) . Source : Digitized video tape ‘20010612 Getuigenis Marie J Buvens’ (DVD July 26, 2013) Michel van der Burg • Marc Michiels Collection • Miracles•Media

3) Belgian National Railway Company NMBS/SNCB ‘Special Accident Report’ 23 April 1943. Source : Nico Wouters , CegeSoma Report , Senate / State Archives Belgium) • Bijzonder Ongevalsverslag nr. 6 1943, Dossier 308 (A1052/43) 27 April 1943, Dossiers 727-2729 Sabotages 1943, Arch. NMBS/SNCB.NMBS Archive . URL https://www.senate.be/home/sections/geschiedenis_en_erfgoed/NMBS-SNCB/CegeSoma-rapport-def.pdf

Additional

Map : Carte Officielle Des Chemins De Fer Belges (Octobre 1927) Societé Nationale des Chemins de fer Belges. Institut Cartographique Militaire 1927. Scale 1:400.000

Reglement Omtrent de Handseinen. Beheer van Staatsspoorwegen. Brussel, 1922.

DRB Class 50 steam locomotive and freight train video and sound (2011). Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media

Social Edition Film dd 20260604
This ‘social’ edition of the video dd 20260604 has burned in English captions facilitating posting at social media.

Comments & corrections — like for French, Flemish subtitles — welcome : send me a message please via contact form at https://miracles.media/about/ Thanks , Michel van der Burg

Citation info :

🎬 Buvens’ Story – Transport XX • Miracles Docs #9 • Miracles•Media • 1MEMO_20260604_1 • ISAN 0000-0007-329C-0009-A-0000-0001-5 • Short film (9 min) by Michel van der Burg & Marc Michiels • © 2026 Miracles•Media • Source miracles.media/2026/06/04/

Normandy Panorama Photography Jo Struyven • 1MEMO_20260526

Normandy Panorama Photography Jo Struyven • @1MEMO_20260526 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • TakeNode 32372a47-c6f0-48b6-99b1-5777789f63aa

#Normandy #dday #Struyven #JoStruyven #art #landscape #seascape #documentary #coast #panorama #photography #landing #beach #sea #album

Settela Film Auschwitz Museum • 20260522

Deportation of Dutch Roma to Auschwitz – 19 May 1944 • 9-year-old Anna Maria (Settela) Steinbach was deported together with 244 other Roma from Westerbork to Auschwitz (1,2) • Source : Settela•Com • Collection Auschwitz Museum • URL https://fb.watch/Hgg5lusc-8/

The Auschwitz Museum acquired the short film ‘Settela’ from Settela•Com (1) in the Auschwitz Memorial Collection (3), and is succesfully screening the film each year since 2019 on the 19th May at the Auschwitz Memorial / Muzeum Auschwitz facebook page .

Last year’s post of the film ‘Settela’ , 19th May 2025 at the Auschwitz Memorial / Muzeum Auschwitz facebook page, accumulated by now one million views, and over 3000 comments (Image 1MEMO_20260522).

The film was created in an attempt to keep the scene on screen longer on the one hand, and to preserve the natural and historical original on the other. Thus a compilation was created, showing the same scene twice. The film ends with the original 3 seconds clip selected from the Westerbork film footage shot by Jewish prisoner Rudolf Breslauer (4), and the film starts with that same clip , digitally slowed down 10× in post-production.

This film was created and first online in 2017 (5) , and published (antedated) as the first post (1) shortly after the start May 19, 2019, of the online journal Settela•Communications — short Settela•Com (6).

More on the Roma in Auschwitz , online at the Auschwitz Museum (7).

Notes

2 – Genocide • 20260519 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | URL https://settela.com/2026/05/19

3 – Settela • Auschwitz Memorial Collection, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum • Facebook reels (retrieved May 22, 2026) URL https://www.facebook.com/reel/1461275455190451 •

4 – Settela Steinbach in Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2026 May 18) URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiLNDziwEtc&t=1012s

5 – Settela | 20170721 | michelvanderburg.com | URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2017/07/21/settela/ . Credit line changed later.

7 – The Roma in Auschwitz. Auschwitz Museum. URL https://lekcja.auschwitz.org/en_roma_auschwitz

TAGS #Auschwitz #museum #memorial #slowmotion #Settela #Steinbach #girl #child #headscarf #railcar #train #deportation #Westerbork #Netherlands #camp #Westerborkfilm #film #Breslauer #nomad #Roma #Sinti #gypsy #Jew #Holocaust #Porajmos #genocide #SettelaCom #MiraclesMedia #michelvanderburg

Gaza • 1MEMO_20260521

Sailing to Gaza
Joeri Puissant tried to stop his son Isja (26) from sailing to Gaza. But Isja felt “obliged” to join — for his Palestinian friends and his distant relatives who were victims of the Holocaust.
Source – Annebeau Hofkens | Belgian news De Standaard , May 21, 2026

NL – Joeri Puissant probeerde zijn zoon Isja (26) tegen te houden om mee naar Gaza te varen.
Maar Isja voelde zich “verplicht” mee te doen: voor zijn Palestijnse vrienden en zijn verre familieleden die het slachtoffer werden van de Holocaust.

Relatives Resistance

Okselkinderen (Marie Meeusen) dutch poem dedicated to Willy Souritz (Transport VI) and Pauline Souritz Transport XX) — great-uncle and great-aunt murdered in Auschwitz

NL – Okselkinderen (Marie Meeusen) gedicht opgedragen aan Willy Souritz (Transport VI) en Pauline Souritz (Transport XX) — oudoom en oudtante , vermoord in Auschwitz.

Notes

Transport XX to Auschwitz – https://michelvanderburg.com/2013/04/19/transport-xx-to-auschwitz/

Souritz – Kazerne Dossin’s Post (August 29, 2021) https://www.facebook.com/KazerneDossin/posts/𝙏𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩-𝙑𝙄-1942rachel-souritz-werd-geboren-in-anderlecht-brussel-op-5-oktober-/6054479877957330/

Background (2025) : Global Gaza Flotilla • @1MEMO 20251003 • https://1-memo.com/2025/10/03/global-gaza-flotilla-1memo-20251003/

Update : May 21 , 2026 – 17:00 : Isja Puissant is free

Citation info: Gaza • 1MEMO_20260521 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media

#news #Palestine #Gaza #Israel #protest #ship #Belgium #kidnap #flotilla #TransportXX #holocaust #resistance #war #poetry #trauma #Auschwitz #Sumud #globalsumudflotilla #MarieMeeusen #transportxx #poem #Puissant

Sign • 1MEMO_20260520

Midnight, May 20, 2011 in Kuttekoven, Belgium. Behind the scenes. Making of documentary film “Transport XX to Auschwitz” . Reconstruction of the scene where Simon Gronowski escapes from the 20th Convoy in the early morning (around 2-3 a.m.) of April 20, 1943 . https://michelvanderburg.com/2013/04/19/transport-xx-to-auschwitz/

Miracles – https://miracles.media

Citation info: Sign • 1MEMO_20260520 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • TakeNode 92928d93-9d03-44b7-b7d7-24acab894b92

#sign #escape #Simon #Gronowski #Kuttekoven #train #Belgium #deportation #convoy #TransportXX #holocaust #resistance #war #BTS #MiraclesMedia

Genocide • 20260519

Settela Steinbach — The Girl with the Headscarf • 1MEMO_20260519_1 • Settela•Com • Frame from camera original film reel of the Westerborkfilm (1).

On May 19, 1944, at the Westerbork transit camp, a glimpse of Sinti girl Settela Steinbach wearing a headscarf appears between the sliding doors of a cattle car awaiting deportation to Auschwitz (1,2,3).
In May 1945, her father, Moeselman Steinbach, wrote to “Repatriation” in the Netherlands: “…I very politely request you to inform me whether my wife and 10 children have arrived, or only children (Gypsy children) from the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.” (4).

The 9-year-old dutch Sinti-girl Anna Maria ‘Settela’ Steinbach peeks outside , at the last moment just before the sliding door is closed , standing inside a cattle car with 74 people on May 19 , 1944 in the Westerbork transit camp in Holland , when this deportation train leaves for Auschwitz-Birkenau – where Settela is murdered a few months later in one of the gas chambers (5).

While Settela peeks outside , her mother cries behind her in that cattle car : “Get out of there, or soon your head gets in between!”

She is wearing a headscarf made from a torn sheet because the Nazis shaved her head upon arrival at Westerbork transit camp on May 16, 1944, following the “Gypsy raid” carried out that same day at the Zwaaikom caravan site in Eindhoven, the Netherlands (6).

Settela Film • 20220630

Settela was filmed only a few seconds by the Jewish prisoner filmmaker Rudolf Breslauer as part of a documentary film being made in 1944 on the Westerbork camp .
Those seconds , also in slow-motion are shown in the 2022 Settela Film • 20220630 (7)

The toddler Settela in the arms of her older sister Elisabeth Steinbach at the Heksenberg Sinti caravan site in 1935 • Photo Jan de Jong • 1MEMO_20260518_4

Anna Maria (‘Settela’) Steinbach was born 23 December 1934 in Buchten, Netherlands, and photographed at age ~1 , in the arms of her older sister Elisabeth Steinbach, with others of the Steinbach family, and other families, at the nearby Sinti caravan site ‘Heksenberg’, October 1935, by photographer Jan de Jong (8) • 1MEMO_20260518_4

Settela was deported together with her brothers and sisters (Willy “Celestinus”, Willem, Elisabeth, Johanna, Philibert, Florentina, Willem, Anna), and mother Toetela (Emilia) Steinbach (born 23 March 1902 in Antwerp, Belgium), with other Steinbach and other nomad families – all together ca 245 Sinti and Roma and ca 450 Jews – on May 19th 1944 from the dutch Camp Westerbork to the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen camps (5,6).

Toetela’s eldest child Moekela (Magdalena; born 14 Sep 1922) had gone to Belgium and had been deported earlier – 15 Jan 1944 – with her 6 months old baby Jeanette – Toetela’s granddaughter – on the Z-Transport from transit camp Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen to Auschwitz, were they were murdered on arrival.

Settela’s father Heinrich (‘Moeselman’) Steinbach (born Nov 11, 1901 in Gründorf in Germany) died alone of grief June 6, 1946 in Maastricht in the Netherlands – his wife and 10 children had not survived the camps.

To : “Repatriation” in Maastricht (Netherlands) — “Dear Sirs, I very politely request you to inform me whether my wife and 10 children have arrived, or only children (Gypsy children) from the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.
From May 15, 1944, my children and wife were taken there; no Jews. And Weiss had to come along too. — Heinrich Steinbach. Caravan site Eindhoven , North Brabant” • 1MEMO_20260519_2 • Settela•Com

One year earlier , May 22, 1945, two weeks after the liberation of Holland, Heinrich Steinbach — living at the caravan site in Eindhoven (North Brabant, Netherlands) — inquires about the fate of his wife and ten children on a postcard written to the “Repatriation” in Maastricht (Netherlands). The text on the postcard reads — translated from dutch (4) :

“Dear Sirs, I very politely request you to inform me whether my wife and 10 children have arrived, or only children (Gypsy children) from the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.

From May 15, 1944, my children and wife were taken there; no Jews. And Weiss had to come along too.

Heinrich Steinbach. Caravan site Eindhoven N.B.”

Notes

1 – Settela Steinbach in Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2026 May 18) URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiLNDziwEtc&t=1012s

4 – May 1945 Postcard Heinrich Steinbach • 1MEMO_20260519_2 • Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | Source : Collectie HCL, archief Militair Gezag, Maastricht.
‘Moeselman’ Heinrich Steinbach — living at the caravan site in Eindhoven (North Brabant, Netherlands) — inquires about the fate of his wife and ten children on a postcard written to the “Repatriation” in Maastricht (Netherlands). The dutch text on the postcard reads :
“Geachte Heeren, Ik verzoek u zeer beleeft om mijn te willen berichten op mijn vrouw en 10 kinders aan gekomen zein of alleen kinders (zigeunerkinders) uit contrasie kamp uaschwietsch Polen.
Van 15 mei 1944 zein mijn kindeers en vrouw naar toe gebracht, geen joden. En ook Weiss moet ook mee komen. Heinrich Steinbach. Woonwagenkamp Eindhoven N.B.”

6 – ‘Zigeunerrazzia’ 16 mei 1944. Peter Jorna. Stichting 18 September (Eindhoven) URL https://stichting18september.nl/zigeunertransport/

8- Sinti Caravan Site • 20260518 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | URL https://settela.com/2026/05/18

TAGS #Settela #girl #headscarf #Steinbach #Westerborkfilm #Westerbork #Breslauer #Roma #Sinti #gypsy #zigeuner #nomad #caravan #razzia #raid #Eindhoven #postcard #Holocaust #Porajmos #genocide #children #camp #deportation #Jew #Netherlands #railcar #train #station #transitcamp #UNESCO #film #letter #Heksenberg #Zwaaikom #Auschwitz #SettelaCom #MiraclesMedia #michelvanderburg

Sinti Caravan Site • 20260518

Willy Steinbach plays the violin at the Sinti caravan site Heksenberg in 1935 • Photo Jan de Jong • 1MEMO_20260518_1

In 1935 the nomadic Sinti families Steinbach — musicians — were photographed by Dutch photographer Jan de Jong at their caravan pitch on the heath around the Heksenberg hill in Brunssum, Limburg, Netherlands (1).

The boy with the violin is Willy Steinbach, an older brother of Settela Steinbach. The other 3 prints from the glass negatives that Jan de Jong made at the Heksenberg site in 1935 also show the Steinbach family, among others, with toddler Settela in the arms of her older sister Elisabeth Steinbach.

The toddler Settela in the arms of her older sister Elisabeth Steinbach (circled in blue) at the Heksenberg Sinti caravan site in 1935 • Photo Jan de Jong • 1MEMO_20260518_2

Settela Steinbach became known as the girl with the headscarf, featured a few seconds in the Westerbork film by Werner Rudolf Breslauer showing the deportation of the Steinbachs’ and other nomad families — all together ca 245 Sinti and Roma, and ca 450 Jews — on May 19th 1944 from the dutch transit camp Westerbork to Auschwitz (1,2).

Notes

2 – Settela Steinbach in Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2026 May 18) URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiLNDziwEtc&t=1012s

TAGS #Settela #girl #headscarf #family #Holland #violin #Sinti #Roma #Steinbach #caravan #nomad #Porajmos #Holocaust #genocide #Westerbork #WesterborkFilm #MiraclesMedia

Source : Sinti trailer camp 1935 by Jan de Jong (photographer De Spaarnestad) • Wikimedia Commons, Collection Limburgs Museum