Family Wyman-De Vrede

Aaron Wyman was born on January 24, 1890, in The Hague. On September 21, 1910, he registered with the Grenadiers en Jagers regiment of the Dutch army. During World War I, in which The Netherlands remained neutral, Aaron was transferred in August 1917 to the 47^th battalion in the land defense district Bergen op Zoom. From the beginning of 1917 until the end of 1918, Aaron lived alternately in the Netherlands and Belgium. On January 22, 1919, he moved to Eloystraat 47 in Anderlecht.

On June 9, 1920, Aaron married Rica de Vrede in Saint-Gilles. She was born on September 13, 1888 in Anderlecht and lived before their marriage at Waterloosesteenweg 224 in Sint-Gillis. Two years later, on October 27, 1922, their first and only child, Isidore Isaac Wyman, was born. The family Wyman-De Vrede moved to Forest on September 5, 1933, where they lived at Jules Francquistraat 30. Aaron was a doorman, Rica a housewife. Son Isidore applied for Belgian citizenship on November 8, 1938. Exactly three months later, on February 8, 1939, his request was granted. In early March 1939 Isidore worked for Fischer Frères, a Jewish company in the textile industry.

In May 1940 Nazi Germany invaded Belgium. The Wyman-De Vrede family obeyed the anti-Jewish laws of the occupation authorities. Father Aaron registered in the Jewish register of Forest together with his wife Rica and son Isidore on December 22, 1940.

In the Dossin Barracks, Aaron and Rica were registered on January 22, 1943, for transport XX under numbers 195 and 196. Transport XX was exceptional in many ways. Since the Jews had been in hiding in large groups since the autumn of 1942, the composition of the transport was delayed considerably. It took 92 days until the registration of this convoy was completed. Transport XX was also special due to its escapes: 233 deportees escaped from the train, also known as the only rescue operation in Europe, executed on a deportation train carrying Jews to an extermination center. Aaron and Rica did not escape and were transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. There they were murdered. The exact date and place are not known to us.

Until September 1943, Jews with Belgian nationality were secured from deportation, on the condition they respected the ordinances defining the status of Jews. However, during the night of 3 to 4 September 1943, a last major raid was carried out, deliberately targeting Belgian Jews. At least 577 of them were arrested that night, including Isidore. He was put on transport XXIIB under number 107. This convoy distinguished itself from the previous ones by the letter B for Belgian. On September 20, 1943, together with transport XXIIA, transport XXIIB left the Dossin Barracks in Mechelen for Auschwitz-Birkenau, where it arrived on September 22, 1943. Isidore did not survive the war either.

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.