Berek Surowicz

Berek Surowicz, a Polish mechanic, emigrated from Warsaw to Antwerp in November 1925. He and his wife Dwojra Hechtkopf opened a hardware store in the Flemish city. Their five sons – Chaskiel, Szmul, Lejb, Abram and Zelik – lent a hand, when necessary. The family were living in Antwerp in May 1940 at the start of the occupation. Berek Surowicz, Dwojra Hechtkopf and their four youngest sons left for Paris a year later. In spring 1942, all six of them were arrested at home and interned at the Tourelles military barracks. Berek and his four sons were deported on 22 June 1942 via Transport 3 from Drancy to Auschwitz-Birkenau. All the men on the train were tattooed on arrival at the camp, but a typhus epidemic quickly took its toll. According to the Auschwitz Sterbebücher (death books), Berek Surowicz (47) died on 25 July 1942, followed soon after by his sons: Abram (19) on 13 August, Zelik (18) on 15 August and Lejb (21) and Szmul (22) both on 18 August 1942. Their mother, Dwojra Hechtkopf (55), was deported via Transport 22 from Drancy to Auschwitz-Birkenau. There is no trace of her following her arrival on 23 August 1942. She died under unknown circumstances.