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The Borenchole-Landsberg family was deported with transport XX from the Dossin Barracks in Mechelen to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Mother Fejga and daughter Thérèse were murdered. Their son, Salomon, was not deported and survived the war. Father Abraham Joseph survived his captivity in Auschwitz and came back to Belgium in 1945, together with Salomon.
Fejga Landsberg and Abraham Joseph Borenchole were both born in Poland. Fejga was born on September 23, 1894 in Warsaw and Abraham Joseph on March 16, 1894 in Czyste. They married on June 18, 1924 in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. In December 1925, the couple arrived in Belgium and went to live at Frontispiesstraat 19, in Brussels. Abraham Joseph was a leather worker and Fejga a housewife. Later she worked as a butcher.
On April 9, 1926, daughter Thérèse was born in Brussels. A year later Fejga, Abraham Joseph and Thérèse moved to Rogierstraat 154 in Schaarbeek. In this commune, Salomon was born on April 30, 1928. In 1933 the Borenchole-Landsberg family moved to Forest. Finally, they moved to Anderlecht where they lived at Brogniezstraat 133.
In May 1940 Nazi Germany invaded Belgium. The Borenchole-Landsberg family obeyed the anti-Jewish laws imposed by the occupation authorities. In January 1941 they registered in the municipal Register of Jews of Anderlecht. Abraham Joseph, Fejga and Thérèse were arrested on January 16, 1943 in Ohey and on January 19, 1943 they were registered on the list of transport XX under numbers 67, 68 and 69 in the Dossin Barracks.
Transport XX was exceptional in many ways. Since the Jews hid in large masses since the autumn of 1942, the assembly of the transport was greatly delayed. It took 92 days until the registration of this convoy was completed. Transport XX was also notable for its escapes: 233 deportees escaped from the train, partly due to the only known rescue operation in Europe executed on a deportation train carrying Jews to an extermination center.
Abraham Joseph, Fejga and Thérèse did not escape and were transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Fejga and Thérèse were murdered. The exact date and place are not known to us. Abraham Joseph was found able to work upon arrival and was given the tribe number 117487 tattooed on his arm. He survived two years of captivity in Auschwitz. In January 1945, he was “evacuated” from Monowitz to Gleiwitz. Eventually Abraham was liberated in Bergen-Belsen by the British army. On April 30, 1945, he returned to Belgium and went to live again at Brogniezstraat 133 in Anderlecht, together with his son Salomon.
Publication info:
ADRIAENS Ward, STEINBERG Maxime (et al.), Mecheln-Auschwitz, 1942-1944. The destruction of Jews and gypsies from Belgium, 4 volumes (volume 1), Brussels, 2009.
