Tag: Marc Michiels

Escape Landscapes from the 20th Convoy – 236 Photo Exhibition

~ michelvanderburg

236 — Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy

Jo Struyven / Luc Tuymans

From 20 January 2023, the Jewish Museum of Belgium, in partnership with the Auschwitz Foundation, presents the exhibition entitled ‘236, Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy’. It is set up in the museum’s project space and offers an artistic look at an exceptional and forgotten event in the Second World War.

The 20th convoy

At 10 p.m. on April 19, 1943, the 20th convoy departed from the Kazerne Dossin transit camp in Mechelen with 1,631 Jewish deportees in cattle cars, heading for Auschwitz.
Thanks to resistance actions, both inside the wagons and from outside, 236 of these deportees managed to jump from that train, that was leading them to extermination. An unique event in Europe under the Nazi administration.

Jo Struyven, photographer

The work of the Belgian photographer Jo Struyven (°Sint-Truiden, 1961) takes us back to these acts of resistance – commemorating the 80th anniversary in 2023 – and gives us a glimpse of the landscapes in which this striking story took place.
Taking the perspective of those who jumped off that train, an act for which many of them paid with their lives, Struyven creates a contemporary ‘memorial’ with 19 large ‘nocturnal’ black and white images, and one colour print.

Jo Struyven :

The 20th convoy, heading for the unspeakable “Auschwitz”, crossed the area where I grew up, barely 50 meters from my childhood bedroom — I found out 2 years ago after meeting Simon Gronowski. Ever since, I imagine the distress of the deportees. The destination was unknown to them. Some, sensing the worst, tried to escape it. I wanted to give an account of this border between life and death, between resignation and the impossibility of choosing, and the freedom regained with resistance to the oppressor’s plans.

Works presented by Jo Struyven

Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy, 2020-2022, 19 black and white prints, 1 color print, 90×60 cm (Private collection – Belgium)

Jo Struyven, Land(es)capes from the 20th convoy 2020-2022, black and white print, 90x 60 cm, Wijchmaal (Private Collection, Belgium)

Jo Struyven, Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy 2020-2022, black and white print, 90x 60 cm, Bierbeek (Private Collection, Belgium)

Jo Struyven, Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy 2020-2022, black and white print, 90x 60 cm, Borgloon (Private Collection, Belgium)

Jo Struyven, Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy 2020-2022, black and white print, 90x 60 cm, Piringen (Private Collection, Belgium)

Jo Struyven, Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy 2020-2022, black and white print, 90x 60 cm, Botzelaer (Private Collection, Belgium)

Luc Tuymans, visual artist

In dialogue with Jo Struyven’s photographs, two works by Belgian visual artist Luc Tuymans (°Mortsel, 1958) evoke the destruction of the Jews and Roma of Europe. Die Wiedergutmachung (The Reparation) depicts body parts – left the eyes of gypsy children who had been experimented on by the Nazis. … images that in its incompleteness, reflect the inability to represent facts and memory .

Works presented by Luc Tuymans

Luc Tuymans, Our New Quarters, 1986, Oil on canvas, 80,5 x 120 cm (MMK – Germany) (Photo Ben Blackwell, courtesy David Zwirner, New York, London)
Luc Tuymans, Die Wiedergutmachung, 1989, Oil on cardboard, mounted on plywood, Oil on canvas; diptych, 36,6 x 43 cm, 39,4 x 51,8 cm, courtesy: Private collection (Photo Studio Luc Tuymans)

Art after the Shoah

“Writing a poem after Auschwitz is barbaric”, wrote German philosopher Theodor W. Adorno in 1949. Through two contemporary perspectives from the visual arts, this exhibition seeks to address this question of the (im)possibility of art after the Shoah in a new way.

Testimonies & Catalogue

This exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue book edited by Daniel Weyssow and Jo Struyven and published by the Auschwitz Foundation entitled Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy (press release on April 19, 2023), as well as an educational space presenting the testimonies from interviews and archives of convoy escapees.

Info+ ( & Français | Nederlands)

236
Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy
Jo Struyven / Luc Tuymans
Exhibition at the Jewish Museum of Belgium, in Brussels, Belgium
20 January – 14 August 2023
Brussels
Website https://www.mjb-jmb.org

Auschwitz Foundation, Brussels, Belgium
Website https://www.auschwitz.be/en

News

Jan 20, 2023 – Vernissage ‘236’ Land(es)capes 20th convoy.

Full report at michelvanderburg.com here : https://michelvanderburg.com/2023/01/20/vernissage-236-landescapes-20th-convoy/

Vernissage ‘236’ Land(es)capes 20th convoy | 20230120

Video report : Vernissage ‘236’ Land(es)capes 20th convoy

Thursday January 19th, 2023, the vernissage of the photo exhibition 236 — Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy was opened with speeches by Philippe Blondin, President of the Jewish Museum, and by Pierre-Yves Jeholet , Minister-President of the Government of the Federation Wallonia-Brussels. Next, the Belgian photographer Jo Struyven presented his work — escape landscape photographs glowing in the dark — like being lit by moonlight — as well as paintings contributed by Luc Tuymans in the project space. The exhibition runs from January 20 – August 14, 2023 in the Jewish Museum of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium. Video report (20230120) Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media .

Jan 20, 2023 – VRT | Kristien Bonneure (Belgian Flemish Broadcast) 20 jan 2023

Post and podcast interview (dutch) Jo Struyven – link https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2023/01/18/expo-xxe-konvooi/

BRUZZ 19 Jan 2023 — Brusselse fotograaf stelt tentoon in Joods Museum: ‘Vluchtlandschappen vastgelegd’

https://www.bruzz.be/videoreeks/donderdag-19-januari-2023/video-brusselse-fotograaf-stelt-tentoon-joods-museum

236 Land(es)capes 20th convoy | 20230126

New edition 236 vernissage video report with the focus on the presentation by Jo Struyven of the images .

Meet the artist : Jo Struyven

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2023 AT 3 PM
Musée juif de Belgique
https://www.facebook.com/events/584997116296632

Updates

Sunday January 22th, 2023. Updated Museum’s poster image, and the Vernissage news item , editing text, plus embedding video.

Friday January 27th, 2023. News item added : 236 Land(es)capes 20th convoy | 20230126

Saturday January 28th, 2023. News item added : Meet the artist : Jo Struyven

Vernissage ‘236’ Land(es)capes 20th convoy

~ michelvanderburg


Photographer Jo Struyven presents a preview of his work last night , Thursday January 19th, 2023 at the vernissage of 236 — Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy , an exhibition of works by Jo Struyven and Luc Tuymans in the Jewish Museum of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium, open from today for the public January 20 – August 14, 2023.

On April 19, 1943, the 20th transport left the Mechelen transit camp to deport 1,631 Jews to Auschwitz. Thanks to resistance actions, both inside and outside the wagons, 236 of these deportees managed to jump from the train that would lead them to destruction.

Photographer Jo Struyven revisits this unique act of resistance in Western Europe during the Nazi regime and shows us the landscapes in which this little-known story took place.

The vernissage was opened by Philippe Blondin, President of the Jewish Museum, and by Pierre-Yves Jeholet , Minister-President of the Government of the Federation Wallonia-Brussels.

Follow-up post tomorrow 20230121.
License info : Vernissage ‘236’ Land(es)capes 20th convoy | 20230120 | Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media | TakeNode 5e71633a-0ff2-44bf-99dc-34f3db25bb26

Jews and the Resistance | Marc Michiels | 20221120

~ michelvanderburg


Lezing Marc Michiels : De verzetsactie op het 20ste transport Mechelen-Auschwitz. Studiedag CegeSoma & Kazerne Dossin , 20 nov 2013, in Kazerne Dossin , Mechelen , Belgium.

Camera notities van Joods Verzet & Transport XX door Michel van der Burg. Ik was nog net op tijd voor deze lezing van Marc Michiels. De dag daarvoor filmde ik Simon Gronowski de hele dag en avond in Saint Sépulcre, Luik. Plan was om na overnachting in Luik , van daar uit naar de studiedag te gaan. Maar al onderweg in de auto toen ik borden Brussel zag herinnerde ik mij plots dat Simon Gronowski terloops iets gezegd had over ‘actie’ ‘morgen’ ‘Waterloo’ (dat drong niet tot me door toen tijdens filmen) en besloot ik dat op te zoeken in Brussel, nog net op tijd voor de speech van Amir Jafari, 12 jaar en Afghaanse vluchteling. Na maken van reportage daar in Brussel, besloten alsnog naar Kazerne Dossin te rijden voor rest van studiedag : de Afternoon Session …
Moderator Ward Adriaens – met bijdragen van Thierry Rozenblum, Herman Van Goethem, Laurence Schram, Marc Michiels, Arnaud Bozzini, en Rudi Van Doorslaer.

On 20 November 2013, roughly 70 years after the attack on the 20th Convoy from Mechelen to Auschwitz in Boortmeerbeek, Kazerne Dossin and Cegesoma jointly organized a study day about Jews and the Resistance. The symposium languages were Dutch and French.
License info: Jews and the Resistance | Marc Michiels | 20221120 | Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg•com | TakeNode ID: 21438c65-6185-4efe-b3fb-9ce630db30b5

TAGS #Jews #resistance #Marc Michiels #Herman Van Goethem #education #lecture #Kazerne Dossin #Mechelen #Belgium #train #deportation #rescue #escape #dutch #lezing #Transport XX #study #holocaust #museum #TakeNode #MiraclesMedia #michelvanderburg

Ammerland | 2011 Transport XX | 20210507

~ michelvanderburg


Ammerland | 2011 Transport XX ~ Composer Jacob de Haan ~ Performed by Koninklijke Fanfare Albert at the May 2011 commemoration of Transport XX in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium ~ Film : 20210507 | Michel van der Burg | 1-memo•com | Miracles•Media
TAGS #Ammerland #TransportXX #commemoration #1Memo #MiraclesMedia #michelvanderburg #Belgium #Boortmeerbeek #MarcMichiels #holocaust #resistance #deportation #train #attack #escape #Livschitz #Maistriau #Franklemon #music #JacobDeHaan #BrassBand #FanfareAlbert

Marc Michiels 1999 Transport XX

~ michelvanderburg

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

TAGS #MarcMichiels #TransportXX #commemoration #1Memo #MiraclesMedia #michelvanderburg #Belgium #Boortmeerbeek #holocaust #history #resistance #deportation #train #attack #escape #Livschitz #Maistriau #Franklemon #speech #Jew #war #RobertMaistriau #SimonGronowski #RegineKrochmal

XXth Transport to Auschwitz ~ Marc Michiels & Mark Van den Wijngaert

~ michelvanderburg


The present has its past. Presentation of new unique book of a study of Transport XX by author Marc Michiels yesterday during the commemoration of Transport XX – May 5, 2019 in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium.
“Het XXste transport naar Auschwitz” (the XXth transport to Auschwitz) is the 2nd (revised and expanded) edition of this detailed dutch work (ISBN
9789059089808 ) published last month by the two authors Marc Michiels and Mark Van den Wijngaert.

On the night of April 19, 1943 the XXth Transport departs from the Dossinkazerne in Mechelen with 1631 Jewish men, women and children heading for Auschwitz. Armed with one revolver, and a storm lamp covered with red tissue paper, three young men manage to stop the train between Boortmeerbeek and Haacht and free seventeen prisoners.

This rescue operation by George Livschitz, Robert Maistriau and Jean Franklemon is unique in the history of the Holocaust. Even before the train reaches the Belgian border, more than two hundred prisoners can escape. Some of them are shot, others are arrested again by the Nazis, but most escape the fate that awaits them in Auschwitz.

The book describes the escapes from the XXth Transport, how the transport was put together and what would happen to the vast majority of deportees. The countless testimonies confront the reader with the racial destructiveness of the Nazis and tell how some people barely managed to escape.

Marc is dreaming now of an English and or French translation of his dutch book…

Music by the Crescendo Boortmeerbeek Choir.

① memo 20190506 ~ XXth Transport to Auschwitz ~ Marc Michiels & Mark Van den Wijngaert

Historic Atelier Marcel Hastir hosted “Transport XX to Auschwitz” screening and filmmaker’s talk

~ michelvanderburg

 

Atelier Marcel Hastir hosted “Transport XX to Auschwitz” screening and filmmaker’s talk
Atelier Marcel Hastir hosted “Transport XX to Auschwitz” screening and filmmaker’s talk

Jan 2015 – Brussels, Belgium. On January 31, the historic Atelier Marcel Hastir hosted the special screening (and Belgium premiere) of the documentary « Transport XX to Auschwitz » for International Holocaust Remembrance Day – 70 years after the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp on January 27, 1945.

The screening was introduced by filmmaker Michel van der Burg with a few words on the history of this special place – the Atelier Marcel Hastir – and the important role of the Atelier in the planning of the attack on the 20th train to Auschwitz.

“ … This place – l’Atelier – is also special to me – because of the long history of art, philosophy, special events … and especially because the Atelier has played an important role in the planning of the attack on the 20th train to Auschwitz. During WW2 the artist Marcel Hastir managed to get permission from the German occupiers to start a drawing and painting school in his Atelier. That school, however, was actually a cover , to have a safe meeting place , for resistance work like printing underground papers , and ….. the planning of the attack on Transport XX. Two of the attackers often came here talking and working : Youra Livschitz and his old schoolmate Jean Franklemont. Youra helped with the printing of underground papers in the cellar of the Atelier (…) Late 1942 – early 1943 these papers warned for the terrible conditions in the east were the deportation trains went. Some people from the Jewish Defense Committee – a resistance group – were thinking of planning an attack on the next train to liberate prisoners – the armed partisans however considered that too dangerous with so many people involved. Youra Livschitz was also told about these plans. He did not belong to any organisation – a free spirit –  and Youra could not let go of that idea to stop a train and free the prisoners. So , here in the Atelier – early 1943 – Youra and his friend Jean Franklemon planned to attack the next deportation train, together with Robert Maistriau – who also was an old schoolmate. These 3 young men from Brussels stopped the 20th Transport that left Malines with over 1600 people direction Auschwitz on April 19, 1943. That attack on Transport XX is unique. Of the many deportation trains in Europe – only this train was attacked to free people. And people that escaped from Transport XX – like Régine Krochmal – knew they could count on Marcel Hastir’s atelier for help.”

After the screening in a discussion lead by Laura Muris (Atelier Marcel Hastir), Michel van der Burg talked with the audience about the film, about these people’s stories, and also the many new stories that emerged since the film came out – stories from children of various other passengers of Transport XX who contacted us – like the stories (on this site) of the escape of the 14-y-old Robert Rogers, and the escape of Viviane … holding tight in the womb of her three-months pregnant mother Isabella Weinreb Castegnier …  to be born 6 months later.