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Thousand Belgian Jews were murdered by the NAZIs. The horrifying details of their tragic stories for the most part will never be known, Along with account of the thousands murderd are the the accounts of the much smaller number od survivors. The Bild family were German Jews of Polish ancestry. The NAZIs deported them to Poland before the War. They managed to reach Belgium and were interned by Belgian authorities. When the Germans invaded Belgium (May 1940), the family escaped and his in Brussels. They hid their little girth Ruth in a convent. The Bild family is an example of how the Germans Jews because they more fully understood the situation managed to evade the NAZIs better than the local Jews. The Goldstein family and their two little boys, Jack and Bobby, were straded in Belgium aftter the German onvasion. They were Austrian Jews who fled to Belgium after the Anchsluss. Another example of German/Austrian Jews who managed to survive in Belgium. There are also the castle children, although we do not yet have details on the story. It is particularly interesting because it involved a group of Jewish children. Hising individual Jews was difficult enough. Attempting to hide a group of children was virtually suicidal.
The Bild family were German Jews of Polish ancestry. The NAZIs deported them to Poland before the War. They managed to reach Belgium and were interned by Belgian authorities. When the Germans invaded Belgium (May 1940), the family escaped and his in Brussels. They hid their little girth Ruth in a convent. The Bild family is an example of how the Germans Jews because they more fully understood the situation managed to evade the NAZIs better than the local Jews.
The Goldstein family with their two little boys, Jack and Bobby, were also stranded in Belgium after the German invasion. They were Austrian Jews who fled to Belgium after the Anchsluss. Another example of German/Austrian Jews who managed to survive in Belgium.
There are also the castle children, a group of Jewish children who were hidden from the NAZIs in a castle (figure 1). We do not yet have details on the story. These Jewish children were lodged in a castle and hidden by a Belgian prince. (I think a brother of the king). Hideing individual Jews was difficult enough. Attempting to hide a group of children was virtually suicidal. After liberation the children were moved to Egland and eventually taken in by Israel.
Webelieve that Fred's family were Polish nJews that emograted to Germany, but then fled Germany with tghe rise of the NAZIs and settled in the Flemish area of Belgium. He had a Flemish name. But all of this was unknown to Fred. All he recalled was that he grew up in a Belgian orphanage for Jewish children during the NAZI occupation. It was located in Wezembeek, near Brussels. Even that was a miracle. Largely because of the intervention of Queen Elizabeth, orphans in orohanages and many other Belgian Jews were not deported. NAZI authorities primarily concentrated on foreign Jews. And because Fred spoke Flemish and no one knew who his parents were, it was assumed that he was Belgian. (Actually he was born in Belgium to German refugee Jews.) Some of Fred's earliest memories were listened to the sound of Allied bombers flying overhead toward the Reich to smash Geman cities into rubble. We are not sure what the orohans were told about the situation, but the older children would have known. The staff was Jewish and must have known by 1942 what was happening. That was the case until several years after the War and his uncle showed up at the orphanage to collect him. Until then, Fred knew nothing of his family, but he did know his name (Frans Kader) although not hoiw tgo spell it. And even his uncle had no idea how he had survived. Fred learned about his family and that he was born in Antwerp on July 20, 1938. Over time Fred learned just how he was saved. He was with his mother at the rail station about to be deported. His mother was aware of what was happening. She also relized that blond, blue eyed Fred had a chance to survive. Fred was about 4 years old at the time. She told him to just walk away. an you imagine how difficult that was for his mother. (Fred would learn about this from a woman who had been with his mother who survived Auschwitz.) There is no way of knowing what little Fred was thinking, but he did as he was told. Many 4-year olds would have resisted. He did and was picked up by a nun as he wondered in the street outside the rail station. That is how he got into the Belgian child saving network. Another orphan saved Fred and eventully he arrived at the the Wezembeek Jewish orphanage. Even with Queen Elizabeth on their side, the Wezembeek children were far from safe. There were several close calls. Few Jewish children in Belgium had such happy outcomes as most stayed with their parents. His uncle had assumed that all of his brother's family had perished. He also almost perished, but jumped off the deportation train as it approached the Reich border. (The early deportations were done with regular trains.) Fred and his uncle eventually emigrated to Montreal in Canada. His name became Fred because Canadian Jews mostly associated with Anglo Canadians--another story in itself.
My parents along with my brother and sister manage to get us out of Germany to Belgium (1939). We were housed at the Marneffe refugee camp. I was the youngest, 6 years old when we arrived at Marneffe. we shared responsibilities. I remember some people cooked. My mother was in charge of the baths, thus I was in a tub half the time. I also recall wonderful communal dining. It was a peaceful place to be, a refuge more than anything. Then Germany invaded Belgium (May 1940). we had to pack our suitcases and join the throngs of people trying to escape toward France. We also assumed that the French Army would again stop the Germans as they did in World War I. We walked for 4 days. Luftwaffe aircraft strafed the long lines of refugees clogging the French roads, killing and wounding people. Finally we made it to Arras and there boarded a train that tragically crashed in Morgny La Pommeraie, killing 50 people and injuring 150. My brother and I were among the wounded. Our mother and sister were killed. After the Fall, my brother and I returned to Brussels searching for our father who we had become separated from on the road. There we lived with him. He was arrested and deported to Auschwitz where he was murdered. Father Bruno Reynders from the Abbe du Mont Cesar took ny brother and I under his wings, and hid us with other families, the Luyckx among them. He managed to hide 400 children. Not long ago I made a documentary of my journey, including a visit to Malines where Marneffe was located. [Rotmil] I would like to contact others who were at Marneffe.
Rotmil, Charles. E-mail message, July 22, 2010.
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