Tag: Kazerne Dossin

Souvenir Simon

① memo 20160511 ~ Souvenir Simon ~ Richard Bloom writing for Simon Gronowski a souvenir on the flyer of our film documentary « Transport XX to Auschwitz » in Kazerne Dossin , Mechelen, Belgium – May 11, 2014.
I finally saw Karen and Richard Bloom in the flesh in Amsterdam , May 10, 2014 – after years of working together ‘in the cloud’ from opposite sides of the ocean on our film documentary « Transport XX to Auschwitz » . Next day, May 11, we drove together from Amsterdam to Mechelen ,  to meet up with Simon Gronowski and friends in the Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen , Belgium.

Sculptor’s Monument Transport XX

Sculptor Koenraad Tinel looks at the corten steel work of Etienne Desmet – the Transport XX monument in Boortmeerbeek , Belgium, during the commemoration April 27, 2014. Both Belgian visual artists were born in Ghent.

The sculpture commemorates the heroic attack in Boortmeerbeek April 19, 1943 on the deportation train ‘Transport XX’ – a cattle car train crammed with 1631 Jewish passengers, heading for Auschwitz – by three young men from Brussels – Youra Livschitz, Robert Maistriau and Jean Franklemon – who succeeded in opening one of the cars and liberate 17 people.

Site Of Attack On Transport XX

Site of the attack on the deportation train ‘Transport XX’ – a cattle car train crammed with 1631 Jewish passengers, heading for Auschwitz.

Here in Boortmeerbeek , Belgium, the night of April 19, 1943, three young men from Brussels – Youra Livschitz, Robert Maistriau and Jean Franklemon – attacked and stopped this cattle car train,  succeeded in opening one of the cars and liberate 17 people. Another more than 200 others could jump out also before the train reached the German border. Site filmed May 15, 2011.

Memory Track

Régine Krochmal and Francine Mayran at the 2011 commemoration of Transport XX in Boortmeerbeek (Belgium) – listening to the poem “Ce que j’ai encore à vous dire” by Serge Smulevic – read by his cousin Georges Rakier.

… Aujourd’hui
c’est la renaissance du racisme
c’est l’espérance du fascisme
Ils sont de retour, à nouveau Tous ces anciens fléaux !
Aujourd’hui
J’ai soixante-quinze ans
La colère me retourne les sangs …

Serge Smulevic (20 April 1996)

Film Filmer Transport XX

① memo 20160228 #2 ~ Film Filmer Transport XX ~ A second version now of the film posted earlier today.
This #2 version has the image stabilised (using editing software Final Cut X) and to optimise the stabilisation results the video is shortened also.
This video was made while I was filming in one long take one row of the portraits of the TRANSPORT XX installation in Brussels, on February 28, 2009.
The short film I made then, and info on the TRANSPORT XX installation in Brussels , is available via this link on my web site.