The Reason for the Research Group Our Purposes Who we are

The Reason for the Research Group The research group Dannes-Camiers was founded by the children and grandchildren of deportees from Liege (Belgium) to labor in northern France. Our aim is to find, gather and diffuse the information and documents relating to this relatively unknown episode of the deportation of Belgian Jews as well as documents from the city administration on the deportees from Liege and nearby Seraing. As we may recall, to defend the conquests of the Third Reich Hitler had erected the formidable fortifications all along the Atlantic coast. This wall was built thanks to the labor of volunteers, conscriptees and prisoners and especially with the price paid with terrible suffering of slave labor imposed on two thousand two hundred and fifty two Belgian Jews forced to work in the camp in northern France (Region of the North and Pas-de-Calais). Starting on June 13th, 1942, the Belgian Jews began to be placed in the camps belonging to the Todt Organization (T.O.) in northern France. The operation lasted three months, four convoys left Anvers on June 13thm July 14m August 15th and the 12th of September. Three more convoys left Brussels, Charleroi and Liege on, respecteviley, 26th of June, 31st of July and 3rd of August. There were in fact over one hundred deportees from Liege and Seraing. According to the occupation forces they were chosen from among the "asocials". In 1941 German ordinances denied many jobs to Jews in Belgium so that by spring of 1942 a large portion of Jewish families suffered unemployment. Shortly thereafter, January 1942, in Wansee, Hitler ordered that the final solution be caried out. The Jews therefore furnished the manual labor for the gigantic construction sites while awaiting their death in Auschwitz. German forces managed to force the foreign Jews, by hiding from everyone, including the Jews themselves, on the real purpose of the racial deportations. The companies that worked for O.T. obtained this manual labor at almost no cost to themselves. The enquiries initiated after the war revealed the names of some of these companies: Ruhr Julius Berger from Essen, Duur and Rosetzky from Stuttgart and Albert Jung from Euskirchen, as well as a company from Brussels, Sobeco and others. Despite the plans to deport the Jews from Belgium to Auschwitz, the Nazis were not able to meet their planned objectives. They therefore decided to complete them with the workers from the camps from the French coast. The final solution had a priority over the military objectives. At least four convoys left for Auschwitz: the fourteenth and fifteenth convoy on the 24th of October and the sixteenth and seventeenth on the 31st of October. The 1833 Jews taken from the labor camps had grounds to fear the worst from these new "labor duties" to which they were destined: Auschwitz. A large number jumped from the trains en route. We were dumbfounded by some documents we uncovered in the office of the War Victims (part of the Public Health Ministry in Brussels, Belgium). They contained, among others, list of "employees" drawn up by the German companies working on behalf of the O.T. Some of the names were very familiar, and others were entirely new to us. Our aim is to give a portrait and tale to the name of each deportee. Our generation needs this knowledge so as to pass it on. It may serve to encourage those who were not willing to speak, for whatever reason; be it because they were never listened to, because they felt guilty being a survivor, because they hoped to lead a new life leaving their past behind, or because of the shame for the condition they were reduced to . Furthermore, the post war official reports dealt with the salary and other funds which were stolen from the Belgian Jews. We propose to find out the destination and use that the Belgian state made of the amounts they recuperated. As of today we were able to reconstruct a part of the history of almost all of the deportees. We now know who they were, where they lived, their occupation, nationality, where and when they were born and what happened to them. For each of them we have prepared all the direct and indirect testimony, documents witnessing that period and any other information we could gather. We have tried to contact the survivors or their families, and we were succesful in many cases RTBF (Belgian television station) will air a documentary dedicated to them on the 27th of October at 8 p.m. This is but a begining, more investigation and research will be necessary in order to achieve our goal. We hope to find a favorable response towards what we will need to reacquire our history, to preserve their memory and for an elementary sense of justice. Top

Our purposes The study of the Shoah overturns many "cliches". Reality has been harsh: the good did not triumph in 1945 and the guilty have not been judged. Most of the murderers, whether "on the field" or "from their offices" (and without murderers in the bureaucracy the mass murder machine would not have worked) have not been punished. De-nazification did not take place. The suffering was not followed by any redemption, nor by any request of pardon, nor by any return of stolen goods. On the other hand, the survivors guilt still hangs over them and haunts everyone, and there is a lasting fear and an unsatisfied research as to the why. The Research group "Dannes-Camiers" was established by the children and grandchildren of those who were deported from Liege to working camps for Belgian Jews in northern France (Dannes-Camiers and Condette). Its aim is to find, collect and spread information and documents related to the episode of deportation of Belgian Jews. The discovery of payrolls at German firms (A. Yung, J. Berger, Dur and Rosetzky) that "employed" our relatives opens up questions which we intend to find the answers for. We emphasize the singularity of the Jewish holocaust. True, the uniqueness of this tragedy is recognized more and more, but still too often comparisons to any event which is a cause of unhappines trivialize if not outright deny its uniqueness. We think that commemoration means sharing values and common principles: but alas "commemoration" is not a synonym for "knowledge". Fostering the study of this episode of the Shoah, making it known and understanding it as beyond mere antisemitism is then a necessary goal. We think that memory based only on emotion is fragile and politically vain, and expresses no political security. The display of compassion, however sincere, does not guarantee any civic virtue. We are concerned solely with the results of our research and the diffusion of bare facts. As the historian Maxime Steinberg points out, only twenty or so members of the S.S., in charge of Jewish affairs for Belgium and Northern France, managed to have 25,000 people deported. It is clear that they could not have done that on their own. They benefitted from a network of connections in the Government apparatus and in Belgian society With our work, we wish to contribute and support all those who are now struggling in Belgium against this particular loss of memory, and thus hiding the Government's responsability in the persecution of Belgian Jews. We want to give a name back to each of those numbers on the lists. We want to link a personal history to every name. To this end, with the help of the Museum of the Jewish Community of Lieges, we shall make our files available to everybody, and we shall share our research method and inform others of where the archives can be found. We claim for our Community the right to reacquire those fragments of history (documents, personal papers, etc.) which belong to it, regardless of administrative regulations that still protect some of these archives. One further aim we set before us: reveal the truth and obtain justice regarding the loss of property and goods that our families have suffered. Groupe de recherche Dannes-Camiers. Top

Who We Are

Nathalie Borowski

Myriam Glikerman née le 27/07/1952. Membre de l'Hashomer Hatzair de 1960 a 1972. Khaverat Kibboutz Revadim de 1972 à 1975. Mère de Ruben et de Abigail. Petite fille de Hinda Szkop, Shlomo Noakh Piotrokowski (maternel). Petite fille de Haya Likier, David Glikerman (paternel). Fille de Brucha Piotrokowska et Symka Glikerman.

Jacques Bude

Marc-Henri Cykiert

Jean Claude Griess (Yokhi) né le 20/05/1951. Membre de l'Hashomer Hatzair de 1959 a 1970. Khaver du Kibboutz Revadim de 1970 à 1979. Marié à Sylvia Raszkin, 2 enfants: Steve et Leslie. Petit fils de Khaim Katz, déporté à Dannes-Camiers le 26 Juillet 1942 et envoyé à Auschwitz par le convoi XVI du 31/10/1942, qui par chance s'est évadé du convoi. Petit fils de Meir Griess, qui à eu la chance d'échapper à la deportation en prenant le dernier bateau en partance de Marseille pour le Maroc. Fils de Leiser Griess. Cette recherche, je la dédie à mon Grand-père, Khaim Katz.

Charles Peguine

Foulek Ringelheim

Thierry Rozenblum (Yokhai) né le 03/06/1954. Membre de l'Hashomer Hatzair de 1961 a 1971. Marié à Fiorella Bassan. Petit fils de Szym Rozenblum, déporté à Dannes-Camiers le 03/08/1942 et envoyé à Auschwitz par le convoi XVI du 31/10/1942, qui, par chance, s'est évadé du convoi. Petit fils de Herman Prezerowitcz, déporté à Auschwitz de Drancy, par le convoi XXV du 28/08/1942 et qui n'est jamais revenu. Neveu de Hanny Rozenblum, déportée à Auschwitz de Malines par le convoi I du 04/08/1942, et qui n'est jamais revenue. Fils de Bernard Rozenblum. Fils de Maisy Prezerowitcz Cette recherche je la dédie à mon grand-père Szym Rozenblum à la veille de son 102eme anniversaire, toujours fort et lucide. À la mémoire de Herman Prezerowitcz et Hanny Rozenblum assassinés à Auschwitz Et enfin à la mémoire de Ugo Bassan pour m'avoir le premier montré tout l'interêt d'une recherche généalogique.

Michel (Mikha) Weinblum né le 15/05/1952. Membre de l'Hashomer Hatzair de 1959 a 1972. Khaver Kibboutz Revadim de 1972 à 1981. Marié à Astrid De Visser, 3 filles, Yaël, Sharon et Laura. Fils de Léo Weinblum, déporté à Dannes-Camiers le 03/08/1942 et envoyé à Auschwitz par le convoi XVI du 31/10/1942, qui, par chance, s'est évadé du convoi. Fils de Sophie Kornowski Petit fils de Nathan Kornowski et Regina Grynspan. Petit fils de Heiner et "Bobonne" Wajnblum. Cette recherche, je la dédie à mes parents. Si mon père n'avait pas sauté du train Si ma mère ne s'était pas évadée de la Citadelle Mon frère et moi ne serions pas là A mon oncle qui n'est pas revenu d'Auschwitz

Marc (Moshè) Wolf, né à Liège le 01/07/1951. Membre de l'Hashomer Hatzair de 1959 a 1972. Khaver Kibboutz Revadim de 1972 à 1982. Marié à Michèle Erlbaum, 2 enfants Esther et Dany. Fils de Michal Wolf, déporté à Dannes-Camiers le 03/08/1942 et envoyé à Auschwitz par le convoi XVI du 31/10/1942, qui par chance s'est évadé du convoi. Neveu de Aaron David Wolf, déporté à Dannes-Camiers le 03/08/1942 et envoyé à Auschwitz par le convoi XVI du 31/10/1942, qui par chance s'est évadé du convoi. Petit fils de Hinda Wolf Koltun, déportée à Auschwitz par le convoi XVI du 31/10/1942, qui n'est jamais revenue. Petit fils de Sala Rotsztain-Wajcblum, déportée à Auschwitz par le convoi XX du 19/04/1943, qui, par miracle, fut rapatriée. Cette recherche, je la dédie à mes enfants, Esther et Dany, parce qu'ils ont aujourd'hui l'âge qu'avaient mon père et mon oncle quand ils ont sauté du train qui les emmenait à la mort, pour que l'Histoire ait enfin un visage, qu'elle soit leur Histoire, qu'elle devienne pour eux Mémoire, et qu'ils la transmettent, à leur tour.

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