Search
The Kurier family fled Austria for fear of persecution by the Gestapo. Mother Fryme Eisgrau died early in 1924. Father Hersch Kurier and his children Frederika, Jeannette and Regine were all deported from the Dossin Barracks in Mechelen to Auschwitz-Birkenau. None of the Kurier family survived the war.
Hersch Kurier and Fryme Eisgrau were both born in Poland: Hersch on January 16, 1863 and Fryme on August 13, 1873. They married in 1894. The couple had three children: the eldest daughter Frederika was born on October 1, 1899 in Vienna, Jeannette on February 27, 1904 also in Vienna and youngest daughter Regine on July 12, 1908 in Boskowitz (Czech Republic). Mother Fryme Eisgrau died early in 1924.
The Kurier family lived in Vienna, the capital of Austria, at Gausplatz 6. Only Frederika lived elsewhere, at Kaschlgasse 6. Frederika married Abraham Strick on June 18, 1922. Together they had three children: Gertrude, Lilly and Herbert. Daughter Jeannette Kurier married Siegfried Ehrenfreund on May 25, 1928 in Vienna but the couple divorced 9 years later, in 1937.
In January 1939, Hersch Kurier and his three daughters Regine, Jeannette and Frederika fled Austria for fear of persecution by the Gestapo. Frederika’s children were already in London at that time. The Kurier family stated on arrival in Belgium that they had sufficient means to survive without work. Hersch and his three daughters entered Belgian territory on foot, via Cologne. The foursome was not initially registered in the aliens’ register. They went to live at Somersstraat 49 in Antwerp.
Father Hersch and his daughters each received a travel guide valid until August 31, 1939. Meanwhile, they rented a room at Nottebohmstraat 4 in Antwerp. Two months later, in November 1939, the Kurier family was registered in the aliens’ register. That registration was subsequently extended until the end of November 1940. In order to support themselves they could call upon the Belgian Relief Fund: both the Commission for Public Assistance (CVOO), today known as the OCMW, and the Jewish comity Ezra. This was an Antwerp aid organization that was active for Jewish transmigrants, mainly between 1918-1940.
Abraham Strick, Frederika’s husband, followed his wife Frederika to Belgium. He also stated that he had fled from the Gestapo who locked him up for 10 days and mistreated him in Vienna. To support himself, he would receive money from an aunt in America. Belgium would be, as for the Kurier family, a stopover to travel on to America afterwards. On October 28, 1939 Abraham arrived in Antwerp and, together with Frederika who was already in Belgium, he went to live at Lange Ruusbroecstraat 4. However, Abraham was accused of illegally staying in Belgium and was arrested. On April 15 he was imprisoned in Antwerp. He then applied to be transferred together with Frederika to the penitentiary center in Marneffe so they could be together. This never happened. Abraham ended up in France for unknown reasons and was deported on September 2, 1942 in convoy 27 from Drancy to Auschwitz-Birkenau and did not survive.
After the German invasion of Belgium on May 10, 1940, Hersch, Regine, Jeannette and Frederika obeyed the anti-Jewish laws of the occupation administration. In December 1940 they registered in the municipal Register of Jews in Antwerp, and in March 1942 they became members of the Jewish Association. Between December 21, 1940, and February 12, 1941, 3,401 Antwerp foreigners – mostly Jews – arrived in the province of Limburg at the order of the German occupying authorities. They were distributed among 43 villages and towns and were required to sign for presence daily at the town hall of the locality where they were housed. Since the Kurier family was registered in the Limburg village of Berbroek in early 1941, they are probably four of those 3,401 Antwerp exiles. In May 1941, Hersch and his daughters returned to Antwerp and settled at Rolwagenstraat 42.
Daughters Regine and Jeannette responded to the Arbeitseinsatzbefehl, the employment order issued by the Sipo-SD, in August 1942. As “obligated workers,” they were summoned to the Mechelen assembly camp and then deported. They were placed on transport II which left from the Dossin Barracks on August 11, 1942 with destination Auschwitz-Birkenau. Regine and Jeannette did not survive the war.
Hersch and Frederika were rounded up in Antwerp during the second major raid on the night of August 28-29, 1942. Father Hersch and daughter Frederika were put on transport VII that departed from the Dossin Barracks in Mechelen to Auschwitz-Birkenau on September 1, 1942. Hersch and Frederika were also murdered. None of the Kurier family survived the war.
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.
