Family Luxemberg-Grozwursel

Baruch Luxemberg and Laja Cwatla Grozwursel had four children: Dora, Regina, Celina and Suzanne. It is possible that Dora died before the war or lived abroad during the occupation. Baruch, Laja Cwatla, Regina, Celina and Suzanne were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau on different transports (II, XIV and XV).

Family Luxemberg-Grozwursel
Baruch Luxemberg

Dressmaker Laja Cwatla Grozwursel and merchant Baruch Luxemberg were both born in Poland: Laja Cwatla on October 20, 1897 in Wolanów and Baruch on November 15, 1897 in Łuków. They married on October 29, 1919 in Wierzbick. A few days later, on November 4, 1919, the couple arrived in Belgium. They went to live at Somersstraat 10 in Antwerp. Laja Cwatla and Baruch moved several times within the city but lived from August 1920 until February 1921 in Chatelineau, a village in the province of Hainaut. Their first daughter Dora was born there on January 2, 1921.

In February 1921 the family Luxemberg-Grozwursel returned to Antwerp and went to live at Rolwagenstraat 5. One year later, on February 21, 1922, their second daughter Regina was born. The family moved several times and, in the meantime, further expanded: Celina was born on June 3, 1926 and Suzanne on October 28, 1934. Finally, the Luxemberg-Grozwursel family settled at Sterlingerstraat 51 in Borgerhout.

Family Luxemberg-Grozwursel
Laja Cwatla Grozwursel

In May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded Belgium. The Luxemberg-Grozwursel family obeyed the anti-Jewish laws of the occupation authorities. Father Baruch, together with his wife Laja Cwatla and daughters Regina, Celina and Suzanne, registered in the Register of Jews in Borgerhout, and on March 23, 1942, they became members of the Jewish Association. Eldest daughter Dora, however, was not registered: possibly she died before the war or lived abroad during the occupation.

Daughters Regina and Celina were deported on August 15, 1942 with transport III from the Dossin Barracks to Auschwitz-Birkenau. They accepted the Arbeitseinsatzbefehl, the employment order issued by the Sipo-SD, on August 8, 1942. As “obligated workers,” they were summoned to the Mechelen assembly camp and then deported. Regina and Celina were murdered, as were 99.5 percent of the deportees on their transport.

Mother Laja Cwatla and youngest daughter Suzanne were registered at the Dossin Barracks on October 19,1942 on the deportation list of transport XIV. Transport XIV and XV formed one train that left for Auschwitz-Birkenau on the same day, October 24, 1942. Among the first 250 deportees on transport XV were 234 Jewish forced laborers from northern France. Father Baruch, who was registered on that list under the number 112, was one of them. He was requisitioned by the Labor Office in the summer of 1942 and taken to France where he worked compulsorily for the French company Vaisset and the German company Scholzen, subcontractors of the German construction company Organisation Todt.

Given Suzanne’s age – she was just under 8 – she and her mother were probably sent to the gas chamber immediately upon arrival at the camp on October 26, 1942. Baruch’s name can be found in the – incompletely preserved – Sterbebücher of Auschwitz, which meant that he was selected for labor. However, he did not survive his captivity in Auschwitz.

 

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.

Dieter Porton