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Fajwel Ertel (°31/08/1902 in Zyrardow in Poland) came as a political refugee from Berlin to Belgium in December 1938. Here he went to live on Plantin and Moretuslei in Antwerp. When he registered, he mentioned that he had already been arrested by the Gestapo in Germany and was then deported. He eventually had to flee the country to avoid ending up in a concentration camp. Fajwel does not intend to stay in Belgium for a long time, he would like to move to South America. In Germany, Fajwel worked as a tanner; in Belgium, he no longer practises this profession because he does not have a work permit. Yet he has enough means of existence, thanks to his brother who sends money from Buenos Aires.
In March 1939 Fajwel receives a travel guide model C that expires at the end of May. The Antwerp Committee for Jewish Refugees tries to help Fajwel. They send a letter to the Belgian authorities explaining his situation. Fajwel is stateless and may not return to Germany, may not stay in Belgium for a long time, and may not migrate because he does not have a passport. Because of these circumstances, he registered with EZRA (an Antwerp aid organisation for Jewish transmigrants). They are looking for a country where he can migrate to. Fajwel, however, does not get the chance to leave Belgium.
In May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded Belgium and installed an anti-Jewish policy. Shortly afterwards, Fajwel received support from the Commission for Employment and Unemployment and received an allowance. In September 1941 he left Antwerp and officially moved to Schaarbeek, where he went to live in Gallaitstraat. In October 1941, however, the municipality established that he had never lived there. Fajwels real address is unknown. He may have been taking precautions: at that moment he was wanted by the German Sicherheitspolizei.
We do not know when and how Fajwel was first interned in the Dossin Barracks. Presumably this happened already in the autumn or winter of 1942. In January 1943, camp commander Philip Schmitt discovered that some Jewish prisoners had committed fraud with the postal packages in the camp. He has 37 men – including Fajwel – transferred to Breendonk as a punishment on 11 January 1943. Only 25 of them survive the penal camp and are brought back to the Dossin barracks in June 1943, including Fajwel. On 4 June he was put on the transport list of convoy XXI that left the barracks on 31 July. Fajwel does not survive the deportation.
