Marc Michiels has left us last Friday, April 30, 2021.
Expert author on the history of Transport XX and coordinator for many years of the annual commemorations in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium – here at the 7th commemoration in 1999.
Marc Michiels 1999 Transport XX | 20210503 | Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media
Speech mayor Michel Baert followed by the song ‘I am not at war’ performed by solidarity choir KONTRARIE at the 20th commemoration of Transport XX on 21 April 2013 in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium.
Theme this 20th commemoration : “In the track of Transport XX after 70 years”. Dutch: 20e herdenking – “In het spoor van Transport XX na 70 jaar”. Commemoration of the attack and escapes from Transport XX to Auschwitz.
The three young Brussels’ heroes Youra Livschitz , Robert Maistriau, and Jean Franklemon liberated 17 people during an attack on the cattle car train ‘Transport XX’ , the night of April 19th 1943 – crammed with 1631 Jewish passengers, heading for Auschwitz – over 200 others jumped and escaped that night in Belgium too.
Transport XX Track 1943-2013 ~ Speech : Michel Baert | Mayor Boortmeerbeek ~ Music : I am not at war | KONTRARIE | kontrarie.be | Words and Music by Luka Bloom | Music Adaptation by Luc Wynants, conductor KONTRARIE ~ Film : 20210421 | Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media
Transport XX herdenking 2016 – “Een radicale keuze…” – Update April 22
① memo 20160419 ~ Radical Choice … Transport XX” ~ 2016 commemoration , theme “A radical choice…” in Boortmeerbeek , Belgium , April 17, 2016 .
Video online 19 April 2016.
UPDATE video 22 April 2016.
Film : Michel van der Burg – michelvanderburg.com | 1-memo.com .
By Viviane Castegnier-Yarom* & Michel van der Burg Published April 28, 2014 , updated May 14, 2024
Isabella Weinreb Castegnier was three-months pregnant that night on April 1943 in Belgium, when she jumped from the fast moving 20th Train heading for Auschwitz. Isabella escaped with a broken wrist and bruises all over her body, but otherwise without major injuries. Her daughter Viviane – meaning “full of life”, and named so for her will to live and hold tight in her mother’s womb – was born six months later on October 30, 1943.
Last month, Viviane first learned about our documentary “Transport XX to Auschwitz” and e-mailed me…”I couldn’t believe while searching online that I would find an actual movie made, telling the story of this famous, unique escape from a death-train!” After watching the documentary, she wrote to me “it was so well-made…I even wished it were longer”…Viviane also shared with me that at one point in the film, she got tears in her eyes, as her mother’s face appeared in a flash on the screen, while Lilly (Wolkenfeld Schwartz) – her mother’s friend was telling the story…”and Bella jumped” … this was so unexpected, she said “it took me by surprise!”
One year ago – on Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 7, 2013 – her mother passed away at the age of 93.
Today, 71 years after that unique escape, on Holocaust Remembrance Day 2014, and her mother’s yahrzeit, Viviane shares her story below.
France. Dec 2012. Isabella Weinreb Castegnier.
Escape from Transport XX – to be born 6 months later
My mother – Isabella Weinreb Castegnier, became the No. 1153 on this day in 1943 when she was herded on a truck with Jews, Gypsies, and other criminals or “unwanted” according to Nazis’ doctrine. The truck was heading to the Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen – the transit camp the Germans used for direct transports from Belgium to Auschwitz. Upon arrival, prisoners were deprived of their identiy and all personal belongings. They were assigned tags with numbers to wear on their neck. For the Nazis they were not humans… just a crowd of cattle to be slaughtered.
My mother was hopeless, she was pregnant and aware that in her condition there was not much chance for her survival, she knew she was doomed…unless she could escape from the death train! And indeed, she would do that on this fateful night of April 19, 1943 when she jumped off the cattle-train heading to Auschwitz. She survived…and I was born six months later!
Fleeing from Germany…
My mother was born in Frankfurt-am-Main on November 2, 1919. Her parents were Jews from Poland. They immigrated to Germany during WWI. Some of their family members would later move to Belgium and Holland. My mother and her parents left Frankfurt at the start of 1937 as it became unsafe for Jews to stay in Germany.
Belgium…
My mother, her parents and her sister moved to Antwerp where their relatives resided. My mother was then 16 year old. She joined the ‘Betar’ – a Jewish Zionist Youth organization, in the hopes that one day she would immigrate with her group to Palestine…a dream which would not materialize.
Arrests and deportation…
My mother and her family stayed in Antwerp until the German’s invasion of Belgium in May 1940. By the end of that year they were transferred with other Jewish families to rural areas in the province of Limburg. In the middle of 1941, the Jews who had been expelled earlier to Limburg were now forced to relocate again to cities designated by the Germans. My mother and her father settled in Brussels, while her mother and sister went to the city of Liege, where they had found employment in a convent under the protection of the Catholic Church. My mother became a sales representative for pharmaceutical-dental products. Subsequently she would meet my father who was a dentist, also in Brussels.
Belgium. 1940s. Isabella Weinreb.
In January 1943 – my grandfather, Leo (Leib) Yehuda Weinreb, was arrested in Brussels and deported to Auschwitz on a transport from Mechelen. Around that time, at the beginning of 1943, my parents decided to get married. My mother never thought of going into hiding, she believed that she would be safe with my father – a Belgian citizen, not Jewish, with Catholic roots.
My parents were arrested on their wedding day, and with them, the entire wedding party was booked for inquiry, including the officials who had performed the ceremony. Most likely an informer had denounced them to the German police. My parents were not aware of the German laws regarding “mixed/Jewish marriages.”…They imprisoned my father in the notorious Gestapo headquarters at Avenue Louise in Brussels and punished him for marrying a Jew. While he was beaten in their cells, my mother was transferred to the Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen, in order to be deported later. Luckily for my father, he would be released from jail after a short time, thanks to a family friend who had affiliations with the German administration.
Kazerne Dossin – collecting camp of Mechelen…
Isabella became a number…no.1153, bound to be deported on the 20th Transport to the death camp of Auschwitz. But she was determined not to get there, she knew she had to escape, it was her only chance. Shortly after her arrival in Dossin, my father’s family had submitted a request for her release, on the grounds that she was pregnant and married to a Belgian citizen from a Catholic family. They knew a few people of influence in the German government who could intervene, but unfortunately, their petition failed. My mother was summoned to the camp’s commander who stated gleefully: “Your husband was a fool to think that I would ever release a pregnant Jewess, and be assured that you and your offspring, you both will be exterminated!”
As she was reminded once again of her dreadful upcoming fate, my mother decided it was time to join other detainees who had also plans of jumping off the train. With her friend Lilly she started to organize jumping drills. She and Lilly were training women who were afraid, by teaching them to jump from the highest bunk beds, so that they could be prepared when they would have to escape from a moving train. There were also children who took part in those exercises. One of them was Simon Gronowski, a brave 11-year old boy, whom they called “le petit Simon” (little Simon) and who was practicing jumps with other kids.
Isabella Weinreb Castegnier. Image from film “TRANSPORT XX — installation Brussels”.
Escape from Transport XX – the death train to Auschwitz…
On April 19, 1943, the first night of Passover, Transport XX departed from the barracks in Mechelen with people crammed in cattle-wagons. This time the Germans didn’t use the passengers’ wagons as in previous transports, but instead, they opted for wooden box-cars with tiny ventilations and doors reinforced with barbed wire, which would prevent all attempts to escape. The transport left Mechelen in the late evening for its destination, when at one point, it started stalling, then suddenly stopped. My mother would say that she could hear shouts in German and shots coming from the area of the locomotive. It sounded like the train had come under attack.
My mother (no.1153) and her friend Lilly (no.1152) were both huddled in the same wagon. They were planning to jump off the train as soon as possible, before it would reach over the border to Germany. Each wagon was equipped with a bucket and a broom, the Germans always caring for cleanliness. Possibly the broom had been used to open the door, or perhaps a sharp tool that some people had managed to hide and carry from the camp. My mother could not remember clearly how they had succeeded in making that door open, from inside or outside? She wasn’t sure. But she did tell another story about the broom…how they had dressed it up with a man’s coat and a hat, then held outside the door to use as a decoy for the soldiers who were guarding the train. They were expecting the German guards to shoot at that “broom”… but if the Germans were not responding, it would be the signal that it was safe for them to jump.
People in her wagon then began to jump…taking turns… my mother too was getting ready…but when came her turn, she froze, overcome by a sudden fear, it was dark and the train started to pick up speed. While she was trying to regain control of herself, she felt someone pushing her from behind…and finally she got the courage to jump. Bullets were flying around but didn’t hit her. She rolled down the ravine, then run to hide in the nearby bushes. She had a broken wrist, bruises over her face and legs, but no major injuries. It was amazing that she had not miscarried from that fall and remained pregnant…I was holding tight in my mother’s womb!
The next morning, when it was safe to move out of her hiding spot in the woods, my mother went to the nearest tram station to catch the trolley to Brussels and reunite with my father. Then came the Gestapo again!…they were searching the tram for escapees. She was terrified! She was hiding her swollen hand in the pocket of her coat, afraid they would ask her to take it out. Luckily the men passed her by and did not pay attention. She finally arrived to the tram station in Brussels, feeling so weak and hungry that the first thing she did was to find a bakery and eat her favorite pastries…(she always had a sweet tooth!) Then she allowed herself to call my father who could not believe she had escaped and returned home…he thought he was seeing a ghost!
Born…
Couple months later, about three weeks before I was born, the police came to my father’s house to look for “Isabella Weinreb who had escaped”…My mother had already a new identity, therefore my father pretended she was “not the same wife, but a new one, since the other one he thought had died”…a story the policeman did not believe, but since this man was not a German, just a Belgian cop who was in a good disposition toward my father, he decided to do no harm, just said “you are lucky that my colleague didn’t come with me today, because he is a Gestapo officer and he would have taken this woman away.”
Couple weeks after this frightful event, my mother gave birth safely at home…six months after her escape, on October 30, 1943…my father named me Viviane, meaning “full of life”!
Belgium ca. 1948. Viviane and her parents on the walk board at the seaside.
After the war…
My parents stayed in Brussels after the war…my father lived in Belgium until his death in 1986. My mother moved to the South of France when she was in her 80’s, wishing to live near her daughter (my younger sister)…and there she would remain in a retirement home until she passed away.
As to myself, I spent my childhood in Belgium, where like my mother, I belonged to a Jewish Zionist Youth organization and fulfilled my mother’s dream to live in Israel. At age 20, I went to live on a kibbutz, joining my grandmother and aunt who had immigrated to Israel after the war.
With my family (husband and children) we moved to Los Angeles in 1980 where I’ve been living since. I am now retired, taking care of my grandchildren, telling them the story of my mother, their unique, brave great-grandmother…and my own story, as the youngest survivor of the Twentieth Train!
Viviane Castegnier-Yarom* Los Angeles, California April 28, 2014 – Holocaust Remembrance Day
Notes
April 28, 2014. Ameet Kanon singing Ve’Ulai (“And Perhaps”) – a capella – to honor her great-grandmother’s memory …
…yesterday at the Israeli Scouts of America ceremony in Los Angeles for Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“This song is dedicated to my great-grandmother, who has so many lost in the shoah. She was a holocaust survivor … and this is one of her favorite songs…
Ve’ulai lo hayu hadvarim me’olam Ve’ ulai, Me’olam lo heshkamti im shachar lagan, La’avdo be’zeiat apai.
Me’olam lo taharti bi’tchelet shoktah U’vetom… Shel Kinneret sheli – Oy Kinneret sheli, He’hayit, o chalamti chalom?…”
Lyrics by poetess Rachel [pseudonym of Hebrew poet Rachel Bluwstein]
“Ve’Ulai” Hebrew transcript handwritten by Isabella Weinreb – a song she cherished and herself would sing on special occasions.
“And Perhaps ” English translation “Ve’ulai”
And perhaps these things never were And perhaps, I never rose at dawn to the garden, To work it by sweat of my brow.
Never, not on long and blazing days, Long and blazing days of harvest On top of a cart full of sheaf, I did not raise my voice in song.
Never did I wash in the peaceful azure And innocence, Oh my Kinneret…oh my Kinneret, Did you exist, or did I dream a dream?
April 19, 2018. Full of Life … Escape from Transport XX
Full of Life … Escape from Transport XX ~ Today 75 years ago , that night of April 19th, 1943 in Belgium , Elias Gnazik helped jump the pregnant Isabella Weinreb from the fast moving 20th train heading for Auschwitz. Viviane – meaning ‘full of life’ – was born 6 months later. Discussion – moderated by Ingrid Vander Veken – of Simone Korkus’ dutch book “Het dienstmeisje van Degrelle” on 15 oktober 2017 in Kazerne Dossin , Mechelen , Belgium. This new short film (with english captions / partly english spoken) highlights our discussion in that ‘Literary Cafe’ on Oct. 15, 2017 in Kazerne Dossin, of Elias’ rescue of Isabella and Viviane ; it continues with our visit later to the Kazerne Dossin portrait wall (portrait’s of deported people) with Simone Korkus and Jan Maes (the first to point Simone to Hannah’s story) ; and ends with me having a short improvised talk in english with a visitor’s couple . > Full report here :https://wp.me/p14gqN-niQ
April 19, 2019. Viviane’s Story e-Book
Viviane’s Story Escape from Transport XX…Born 6 Months Later
Today 76 years ago – on the night of the 19th of April in 1943 – Viviane escaped in the womb of her pregnant mother from the Twentieth Train heading for Auschwitz. Isabella Weinreb-Castegnier was three-months pregnant when she jumped that night in Belgium from the fast moving 20th Death Train to Auschwitz. It was Passover eve and full moon , just like today. ….
This e-booklet presents Viviane’s story with amazing new insights discovered together with the Dutch-Belgian author-reporter Simone Korkus of the man that helped Isabella jump to freedom – Elias Gnazik.
Published today April 19, 2019 by Miracles•Media together with co-publisher Richard Bloom Productions – ISBN 9789493147003
With a foreword by Simone Korkus.
Viviane Yarom-Castegnier* & Michel van der Burg April 19, 2019
Note The e-book contains several video’s – and is designed specifically for Apple devices such as iPhone, iPad, Mac.
Viviane’s Story by Viviane Yarom-Castegnier* & Michel van der Burg was first published by Miracles.Media the night of April 19, 2019 as eBook (ePub) including video with a file size of 200 MB.
Now, the 2nd print of this eBook (ePub) is released – with the much smaller size of 60 MB ( same ISBN 9789493147003 ). In addition now a PDF edition of the eBook is released with ISBN 9789493147010 .
You can download both these new eBooks of Viviane’s Story from the site Miracles.Media — both the ePUB (ISBN 978-94-93147-00-3) and PDF (ISBN 978-94-93147-01-0) editions. Link https://miracles.media/vivianesstory/
* Dec 1, 2022. Name change for this story Viviane Castegnier-Yarom — aka Viviane Yarom-Castegnier (used earlier at this site and in e-books)
Dec. 1 2023. Song sung by Isabella’s great-grandchild Ameet Kanon (aka Queen George) , who explained today – Friday , December 1, 2023 – at the premiere :
“The Abbey – it’s been so special and personal keeping you to myself, but your message was always too big for me not to share it …
… This is Isabella Weinreb Castegnier. She is my great-grandmother. On April 19th, 1943, pregnant with my grandmother, she jumped out of a moving train headed to Auschwitz. She was being sent to her death, simply because she was a Jew. She understood that it was now or never, die at the destination or die trying, so she jumped. In the years to follow this epic jump, the Abbeys of Brussels became a place of hiding, survival, and safety for them time and time again.”
Citation info : Viviane Castegnier-Yarom, Michel van der Burg. 2014 Apr 28. Escape from Transport XX – to be born 6 months later – Viviane’s story [regularly updated post]. Boskoop (Netherlands): Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com ; [updated 2024 May 14 ; accessed 2024 May 14]. URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2014/04/28/escape-from-transport-xx-to-be-born-6-months-later/
Updates
May 1, 2014. Added ‘Notes’ section in post with the April 28, 2014 item on Ameet Kanon singing Ve’Ulai.
April 20-21, 2016. Redesigned video image Ameet Kanon singing Ve’Ulai , and edited audio. Also added minor (spelling) correction in english translation of lyrics.
April 19, 2018. Full of Life … Escape from Transport XX – New film – News item added
May 14, 2024. Lay-out changes. Credit info added. Name change info added, and Viviane’s family name order changed except for sections on e-Books. e-Books news items added. New song The Abbey info added.
Storyboard of the video TRANSPORT XX — installation Brussels
TRANSPORT XX — installation Brussels
Portraits of Jews deported to Auschwitz in 1943
English text below – Français au bas
TRANSPORT XX — installatie Brussel
Video impressie (28 februari 2009) van de confrontatie van voorbijgangers met de TRANSPORT XX installatie in Brussel: 1200 fotografische portretten van joden gedeporteerd van Mechelen (België) naar Auschwitz in 1943.
Vandaag precies 66 jaar geleden — op 19 april 1943 — deporteerde het TRANSPORT XX treinkonvooi 1631 joodse gevangenen van de Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen (België) naar Auschwitz-Birkenau (Polen).
Een op de zeven van de gedeporteerden wist te ontsnappen; ondermeer door de verzetsactie van de drie Brusselse jongemannen — Youra Livschitz, Jean Franklemon and Robert Maistriau — die het konvooi ‘s nachts tot staan brachten na Boortmeerbeek — niet ver van Mechelen.
Het project TRANSPORT XX is een constructie waarin de portretten getoond worden van 1200 van de 1631 gevangenen van dit 20ste konvooi.
De TRANSPORT XX installatie in Brussel werd van 27 januari tot 15 maart 2009 georganiseerd door het BELvue Museum in samenwerking met JMDV – Kazerne Dossin (Meer info hieronder).
De fotografische portretten werden buiten gepresenteerd langs het “Park van Brussel” (Warandepark) tegenover het Koninklijk Paleis. Op deze wijze werden voorbijgangers geconfronteerd met de 1200 gezichten van de slachtoffers.
Met deze gebeurtenis werd tevens de bevrijding herdacht van Auschwitz-Birkenau op 27 januari 1945.
Meer info:
Dit project werd voor het eerst gepresenteerd aan de internationale pers op vrijdag 20 april 2007 bij de Kazerne Dossin / Joods Museum van Deportatie en Verzet (JMDV).
Video impression (February 28th, 2009) of the confrontation of passers-by with the TRANSPORT XX installation in Brussels, that presented 1200 photographic portraits of Jews deported from Malines (Belgium) to Auschwitz in 1943.
Today exactly 66 years ago — on 19 April 1943 — the TRANSPORT XX train convoy deported 1,631 prisoners (mainly Jews) from the Dossin Barracks in Malines (Belgium) to Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland).
One out of seven of these deportees managed to escape, among others by the act of resistance of the three young men — Youra Livschitz, Jean Franklemon and Robert Maistriau — who stopped the convoy that night after Boortmeerbeek (near Malines).
The project TRANSPORT XX is a construction depicting the portraits of 1,200 of the 1,631 prisoners deported on this 20th convoy.
The TRANSPORT XX installation in Brussels was organised from 27 January to 15 March 2009 by the BELvue Museum in collaboration with the JMDR / Dossin Barracks (Kazerne Dossin – more info below).
The photographic portraits were displayed outside in the Royal park in Brussels (opposite the Royal Palace). In this way passers-by were confronted with 1,200 faces of the victims.
This event commemorated the release of Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland) on 27 January 1945.
Une vidéo de l’installation “Transport XX” – une série de portraits photos des juifs qui devaient être emmenés de Malines à Auschwitz le 19 avril 1943 (organisée par le BELvue Musée à Bruxelles – 27 janvier au 15 mars 2009 – le long du Parc Royal juste en face du Palais Royal de Bruxelles).
Merci bien Marjan Verplancke et des autres collègues de la Kazerne Dossin à Malines (la Belgique) et le projet ‘Donnez-leur un visage’.
Original 2009 film version :
TRANSPORT XX – installation Brussels (in this post above)
Newer film versions (with description at the Vimeo site) : Transport XX – face to face NB . only minor corrections and new title
This version of the film ‘Transport XX – face to face’ was presented by Kazerne Dossin from January 2010 – ca 2012 on the site of the Task Force For International Cooperation On Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF , now the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance ( IHRA ), and on the frontpage of the Kazerne Dossin site from January 2011 – ca October 2012 – here a cached page from 2012. Transport XX – face to face (2012) NB. new cut
Transport XX face to face – 1 minute film
A special 1 minute film “Transport XX face to face” was selected in 2010 by The One Minutes and the dutch Museum of National History (innl) for the ‘Where history starts’ event on Nov 28th, 2010 in Paradiso, Amsterdam (Netherlands).
Child’s Cry – musical edition of the film Transport XX Face To Face
Child’s Cry is a musical edition of the film Transport XX Face To Face (20200110) matched to Que Siga el Calor, an original song by Simon Lapscher, Moshe Bitton & Samuel Truzman.
A special co-production for International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2020.
Made possible by: Project “Give them a Face” – Kazerne Dossin: Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre on the Holocaust and Human Rights (Mechelen, BE); and the National State Archives of Belgium. Ministry of Justice, Public Safety Office, Foreigner’s Police, individual files.
Music : Que Siga el Calor by Simon Lapscher, Moshe Bitton, and Samuel Truzman.
Film : Child’s Cry (20200125-20200202) Michel van der Burg | miracles.media
Child’s Cry
English translation of the spanish lyrics :
Uncertain life
Reality
Once again loses
…Its integrity
You were sitting on nana’s bed thinking about going out to play When will you be old enough…
…to learn how to die?
How to understand that here is where his childhood dies?
Strange men are taking Dad away
You can’t find the light
The sun goes down, and you’re thirsty inside a wagon
You’re starting to lose your illusion
Grace no longer covers you
She raises her voice, is impatient
Because the train’s driver did not warn her
That she was on the death train
So pitiful is humanity
She hides the truth
But that child
Who was not given a start
Could have been the captain
Of this ship
That knows not how to navigate
Me, you, him
We are all
Wanderers walking.
The death of the jew was proclaimed
He was laughing mercilessly
The cry of that child burned us
Tet the heat continue
The death of the jew was proclaimed
He was laughing mercilessly
The cry of that child burned us
Let the heat continue
Uncertain life
Reality.
The 2010 ‘final cut’ “Transport XX face to face” was first published October 2010 in the 7th round of the New Arrivals 2010 / 2011 of the dutch ‘NTR’ broadcaster: http://www.kortefilmonline.ntr.nl , and uploaded January 2011 at my Vimeo channel and at my now obsolete YouTube channel iClip – that’s being archived, while transferring that iClip content to my main channel youtube.com/michelvanderburg as a 2020 edition.
This remake June 9, 2020 is now produced at higher resolution.
Info updated
20090504
20101130 replaced ‘ClipStills’ by VideoframesWork™
20111215 credits / link info
20120109 french credits
20121030 imported from imichel.com – updated – replaced ‘storyboard’ for ‘VideoframesWork’
20160505 section “More info on TRANSPORT XX and newer film versions was added above
20171130 info on publication of Transport XX face to face on JMDV/Kazerne Dossin site and site ITF / updated links Kazerne Dossin (domain change from .com to eu)
20200125 edited section “More info on TRANSPORT XX and newer film versions” on music video co-production ; and replaced 1 minute film link Vimeo by YouTube link. Added ‘Child’s Cry’ (musical edition of the film Transport XX Face To Face)
20200203 update Child’s Cry section
20200609 remake (4K) of the 2010 final cut ‘Transport XX – face to face’ published.
michelvanderburg•com 