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On 1 February 1939 Albert Markstein (°15/04/1891, Vienna) registered in the Foreigners Register of Antwerp. At that moment he lives in Jonghelinckstraat while his wife, Ida Friedl (°03/01/1984, Vienna), and son Heinz (°03/01/1926, Vienna) are still living in Vienna. Albert has been in Belgium since 3 January and declares himself to be a political refugee. He receives money from his brother-in-law living in Egypt and is planning to move with his family to Bolivia. He fled Vienna after being captured by the Gestapo and exiled from the country. Albert flees to Belgium to avoid ending up in a concentration camp. On 23 January 1939 his wife and son joined him. They had also fled Vienna because of the persecution of the Jews. The family now lives in Statiestraat in Antwerp.
In Belgium the family appeals to the EZRA Comiteit, an Antwerp aid organisation for Jewish transmigrants. Albert and Ida receive a travel card valid until the end of August 1939, but they cannot leave for Bolivia. In August they report with their son to the Marneffe Refugee Centre.
When Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940, the family was evacuated to France. Here they stay until 4 June. After their short stay in France they return to Belgium and settle in Schaarbeek at Place Colignon. On 22 November 1940 both Albert and Ida register as Jews. Heinz registered in January 1941, just after his fifteenth birthday. In 1942 they moved within Schaarbeek to rue Royale Sainte-Marie. When they live there they are obliged to become members of the Brussels Jewish Association.
On 21 November 1942 Ida is arrested and taken to the SS-Sammellager Mecheln, her husband follows two days later. The couple is deported with transport XVIII to Auschwitz-Birkenau and does not survive the war. Heinz was arrested in June 1943 and registered in the SS-Sammellager Mecheln. He was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau on 31 July 1943 on transport XXI and was also killed.
