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The Zeelander-Barmhartigheid family stayed alternately in Amsterdam and Antwerp. The family members were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via various transports. None of the Zeelander-Barmhartigheid family survived the war.
Levie Zeelander was born on June 27, 1881 in Amsterdam. Rebecca Barmhartigheid was born on April 9, 1884, also in Amsterdam. Levie and Rebecca married on October 30, 1902 in the same city.
In 1902, Levie and Rebecca lived for two months without registration in Belgium. From 1903 they stayed alternately in Amsterdam and Antwerp. In the meantime, their family continued to expand: Marcel Zeelander was born in Antwerp on January 11, 1909, Jacobus Zeelander on December 17, 1910 in Borgerhout. Son Marcel unfortunately died at the age of three. Thereafter, little daughter Sara Zeelander was born in Amsterdam on August 13, 1913. On March 15, 1915 Levie and Rebecca had another daughter: Suze Zeelander. Lastly, daughter Annie Zeelander was born in Amsterdam on October 1, 1924. In 1929 the Zeelander family permanently settled in the Sergeyselsstraat in Borgerhout, Belgium.
In May 1940 Nazi Germany invaded Belgium. The Zeelander-Barmhartigheid family obeyed the anti-Jewish laws imposed by the occupation authorities. In December 1940, they registered in the Borgerhout Municipal Register of Jews, and in April 1942 they became members of the Jewish Association. Annie was the first of the Zeelander-Barmhartigheid family to be deported from the Dossin Barracks in Mechelen to Auschwitz-Birkenau. She accepted the Arbeitseinsatzbefehl, the employment order issued by the Sipo-SD. Annie was put on transport II which departed from Mechelen on August 11, 1942 and arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau on August 13. She did not survive the deportation.
Levie Zeelander, his wife Rebecca Barmhartigheid and their fourth child, Suze were arrested during the fourth major anti-Jewish raid in Antwerp. On September 25, 1942, at the Dossin Barracks, their names were added to the deportation list of transport XI under numbers 2484, 2485, and 2486. This train left the barracks the next day and arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau on September 28, 1942. Father Levie, mother Rebecca and daughter Suze were murdered.
Oldest daughter Sara Zeelander married Abraham de Hond on June 30, 1936 in Borgerhout. She was deported from the Netherlands to Auschwitz-Birkenau and murdered. Abraham survived the war. Finally, eldest son Jacobus Zeelander married Zysla Gajzt on December 14, 1940 in Antwerp. In 1941 Jacobus and Zysla moved from Borgerhout to the Netherlands. They lived on the Hofmeyrstraat in Amsterdam. Together they had a son, Louis Zeelander, born in 1941. In March 1942, Jacobus was put to work in Vedder, a Jewish labor camp in the Netherlands. Jacobus, Zysla and their son Louis were deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz-Birkenau where they were murdered. No one from the Zeelander-Barmhartigheid 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.
