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On 24 February 1939, the refugee story of the Berenblum family begins, with parents Abraham Berenblum and Maria Freimowski and daughters Sonja and Rosa.
On 24 February 1939 the refugee story of the Berenblum family begins, with parents Abraham Berenblum (°10/12/1900) and Maria Freimowski (°02/10/1900) and daughters Sonja (°21/10/19326) and Rosa (°10/02/1928). On this date Sonja, and probably also her sister Rosa, were brought from Berlin to Belgium via the children’s transport. This transport transport transported in total about 250 Jewish children from Germany who could stay temporarily in Belgium. After her arrival she stayed with monsieur Plat in the Rue de Tanneurs in Brussels, waiting for the arrival of her parents. Her parents emigrated to Belgium in the course of 1939, where they planned to wait for a valid visa in order to travel further with the whole family to America. Abraham worked in Berlin as a tailor but had to flee because of the prevailing anti-Semitism. His wife Maria was a housewife but was also active as a militant in the Zionist Vereinigung für Deutschland. When the family was reunited they went to live at 44 Rue Basse in Brussels. The Berenblum family moved a number of times, when in December 1939 they were registered at 49 Rue Joseph Claes in Sint-Gillis their daughter Rosa was mentioned for the first time. Abraham did not have a work permit, but was nevertheless able to find work in clothing stores.
The family was still living in Brussels when Nazi Germany invaded Belgium in May 1940. They strictly adhered to the anti-Jewish laws that were imposed by the occupation authorities from the end of 1940. Sonja registered in the Jewish register a few days after her fifteenth birthday. She also received an identity card B, a temporary residence permit, stating that she was Jewish. In August 1942 father Abraham Berenblum was arrested and taken to Northern France as forced labour for Organisation Todt. Sonja was also arrested. On 18 August 1942 she was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau with transport IV. Her father was deported from France on 31 October 1942 with transport XVII, also to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Both are murdered.
Rosa and mother Maria survive the war, Maria could go into hiding at the Ursulines of Ternat until July 1945. How Rosa survived the war is not known.