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Edith Silbiger, personal secretary to the camp commander, was put on transport XXIIA.
Edith Silbiger, was born on 25 November 1920 in Novy-Bohemia, Czechoslovakia. Her parents are Arnold Silbiger, born 23 October 1890 in Kenty and her mother Ernestine Kirschner, born 24 February 1896 in Witkovice, also in Czechoslovakia. On 6 February 1940, Edith and her parents arrived in Belgium, where, when registering for a provisional identity card, Edith stated that she had had to flee Czechoslovakia due to the invasion of the Germans. She also says that she and her parents intend to leave Belgium within six months, although it is not known where. After their arrival in Belgium they settle in the Isabellelei in Antwerp. At this time Edith is still a student.
When the Germans invaded Belgium in May 1940 an anti-Jewish policy was introduced. As a result of this policy she registered, together with her parents, in the Jewish Register of Antwerp in December of that same year. From then on Edith moved house regularly. In February 1941 she moved to Hortensialaan in Antwerp. A few months later she left Antwerp and moved to Schaarbeek, where she was registered in September 1941. In June 1942 she moved to Albertlaan in Brussels, where it was mentioned for the first time that she worked as a stenographer.
On 22 July 1942, Edith was arrested together with a number of other young women during the razzia in the station of Antwerp. After a control, she was taken to Breendonk where she was detained for several days before being transferred to the Dossin Barracks. Here Edith belonged to the so-called Stammpersonal, the Jewish administrative staff marked with the letter P. Together with 10 other young women she was chosen to work as a secretary. This was due to her previous history in dactylography and her command of the German language. She was responsible for the registration of new internees, the checking of incoming packages and she helped in the infirmary. She also became camp commander Frank’s personal secretary. In the camp Edith managed to keep in touch with her parents, for example she wrote a letter to her father on 30 September 1942. Outgoing mail from the Dossin Barracks had to be written in German so that the Germans could check the texts. In this way, they could prevent the prisoners from denouncing their condition.
When the camp commander discovered that the Jewish doctor Fritz Basch was embezzling money, Basch and everyone else suspected of collaboration were put on the list for transport XXIIA. This included Edith Silbiger, not because she collaborated, but because she had a close relationship with Dr Fritz. She did not survive the deportation. About her parents we do not know how they lived through the war.
Source: Laurence Schram, Dossin: wachtkamer van Auschwitz, Lannoo, 2018, 98-123.