Isaac Deutscher

Isaac Deutscher, a diamond merchant from Poland, came to Belgium in 1911. He was living in Antwerp in May 1940 at the start of the occupation. Six months later, Isaac was arrested by the German authorities and sentenced for possession of undeclared diamonds. He was released in August 1941 and, for unknown reasons, moved to Lille in northern France. He was arrested there on 18 October 1941, possibly as a hostage; and was interned at Doullens – a camp primarily used to house political prisoners from the Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments. Isaac Deutscher (46) was transferred to Drancy, from where he was deported on 29 July 1942 via Transport 12 to Auschwitz-Birkenau. All the men on the train were selected for forced labour on arrival. Isaac did not survive deportation. According to the Auschwitz Sterbebücher (death books), he died on 30 September 1942.