Tag: train

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


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

Shoah Comics


Poster Kazerne Dossin museum exhibition (until 22 april 2019 – kazernedossin.eu) Shoah et Bande Dessinée (FR) Holocaust en Strips (NL) at the Gent Sint Pieter train station yesterday , Gent , Belgium. ① memo 20190211 ~ Shoah Comics

En Route Transport XX Stop Kuttekoven


Short clip 7 years ago during reportage Jan 16 , 2012 – en route the former track of Transport XX to Auschwitz , looking for the actual site Simon Gronowski jumped from that death train , a moment before the train stopped near that little town of Kuttekoven , Belgium – together with Simon Gronowski and our friends : partisan Max De Vries who then had just turned 98 years old († 2014), Béatrice, and Marc Van Roosbroeck (vzw ‘de werkgroep 10 december 2008’) . ① memo 20190116 ~ En Route Transport XX Stop Kuttekoven .

Youra Livschitz , Robert Maistriau, Jean Franklemon


The weekly Yiddish newspaper Der Blatt (Yiddish: דער בּלאַט‎) published last Friday (May 25, ‘18) a 6 pages long article on the 75th anniversary in Boortmeerbeek , Belgium , of the ‘only rescue action against a transport to Auschwitz’ (צודי75יָאר איינציגע רעטונג ַאקציע קעגן “אוישוויץ טרַאנספָּארט”) – the 20th transport.

The three Belgian heroes Youra Livschitz , Robert Maistriau, and Jean Franklemon liberated 17 people during an attack on the cattle car train ‘Transport XX’ – crammed with 1631 Jewish passengers, heading for Auschwitz – and another more than 200 others jumped out also. Portaits in the wind filmed following the 75th anniversary in Boortmeerbeek , Belgium.

① memo 20180528 ~ Youra Livschitz , Robert Maistriau, Jean Franklemon

Tony


Today I learned about Tony Edelstein, when I started reading again in the autobiography ‘Cello met één snaar’ (Cello with one string) of the well known dutch comedian , stage artist, Abraham Bueno de Mesquita – whose comic talents saved his life. Bueno’s ability to even play a one string cello combined with his mimical talents saved him from deportation from the Dossin Barracks (Kazerne Dossin) in Mechelen, Belgium , when the camp commander was looking for musicians. He remained imprisoned for 2 years , working in Kazerne Dossin. His wife Tony , however , was deported right away but escaped from that 20th death train (Transport XX) to Auschwitz – together with her twin sister Adela – near St. Truiden , where she survived the war working for a local general practitioner. Later today , after more research , I recognized Tony (3rd row last portrait on the right) and Adela (2nd row from top , 2nd portrait counting from right to left) on the billboards with passport photos (from the State Archives, Brussels) of the people that escaped from Transport XX – filmed last month following the commemoration of the attack on Transport XX in Boortmeerbeek , Belgium. ① memo 20180516 ~ Tony