On the night of April 19 to 20 around 1 a.m., the Belgian partisans Romain Baplu, Gustav (Albert) Poncelet, Pieter Scheepers and Maurice Swinnen – active in the Leuven Partisans group – sabotaged the 20th convoy (Transport XX) just outside Leuven by placing a barricade on the railway track at Korbeek-Lo.
This delayed the 20th convoy of 1,631 Jews in cattle wagons, who were being deported from the Dossin transit camp in Mechelen to Auschwitz. Many deportees jumped from this death train further along between Korbeek-Lo and Tienen.
This was the second time that night that the transport had been sabotaged from the outside.
Earlier that night, before Leuven, at Haacht (close to Boortmeerbeek), the three young Brussels heroes Youra Livchitz (Dr. Georges Livchitz), Robert Maistriau, and Jean Franklemon had carried out an attack on Transport XX. They freed 17 people by opening one of the cattle wagons.
Romain Baplu from Louvain (Leuven, Belgium) and Youra Livschitz (Dr. Georges Livchitz ) from Brussels were both reported on a list of hostages shot , published in the April 15, 1944 bulletin of News From Belgium : …
“A List of Hostages Shot — The names of 15 hostages executed in Brussels after the murder of a German soldier have been published:
Victor Jacobs, of Louvain; Michel Stockmans, of Hougaerde; Edmond Vertongen, of Linden; Désiré Regent, of Kessel-Loo; Julien Ameye, of Lans (France); Henri Michaux , of Herseaux; Maurice Knarren, of Brussels; Romain Baplu, of Louvain; Louis Dewolf, of Louvain; Désiré Lasterman, of Wesmael; Pierre Renis and Jean Simon, of Louvain; Léon Magne, of Nivelles; Joseph Nejszaten, of Sciepe; Albert Meurice, of St-Gilles, Brussels… …
Eight patriots whose names follow were recently shot down by the Germans in occupied Belgium: Albert Romain, of Bièvres; Henry Albert, of Haut-Fays; and Dr. Georges Livchitz, René Lachaud, René Brams, Richard Lipper, Jean-Auguste Leyniers, and René Joseph Emile Denauw, all of Brussels.”
News From Belgium Vol. IV, No. 15, April 15, 1944 | Belgian Information Center, New York (USA) | Harvard Law School Library | Digitized by Google.
Film License info : Romain Baplu & Youra Livchitz • News From Belgium | 20230407 | Miracles•Media | TakeNode bb8fc1fd-444f-4bba-aecb-1d439b5bdb3e
Tags #Romain #Baplu #Youra #Livchitz #Livschitz #Robert #Maistriau #Jean #Franklemon #Transport #XX #20th #convoy #train #attack #escape #jump #Simon #Gronowski #Isabella #Weinreb #Viviane #Castegnier #Yarom #deportation #Brussels #Boortmeerbeek #Korbeek #Lo #Leuven #Louvain #partisan #hostage #execution #murder #Brussels #shot #kill #German #soldier #News #bulletin #NewYork #USA #nazi #resistance #deportation #Holocaust #Belgium #Congo #ww2 #1Memo #MiraclesMedia #michelvanderburg
Updates
20240420 : changed Nicolas Poncelet to Albert Poncelet (based on several sources )
*20240420 : changed Marcel Swinnen to M. Swinnen (both Marcel or Maurice Swinnen … retrieved from Huis van het Belgisch Franse Verzet (Facebook, various dates).
*20240420 : Marcel Hollanders also mentioned at site Huis van het Belgisch Franse Verzet (20240419)
20260505 Last update text
20260509 text update , changed spelling of names , including Livschitz to Livchitz
