Leon Rotstein

Leon Rotsein, a Russian Jew, who emmigrated in 1929, was arrested in Charleroi, where he lived, on 7 August 1941. His arrest was part of the Sonnewende (summer solstice) raid, which, following the declaration of war on the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, seized well-known communists and, all those likely to sympathise with this new enemy of the Third Reich. At first he was imprisoned in Charleroi, followed by internment in the citadel at Huy for ten months. He was then transferred to Fort Breendonk on 19 June 1942.

On 5 September, 56 Jewish prisoners were transferred from Breendonck to the Dossin Barracks. He was among them. Deported to Auschwitz on 12 September on Transport 9 from Mechelen, he was selected for work in the concentration camp complex and registered under number 63.564. After 26 months in Auschwitz, he was evacuated by a death march that brought him to Mauthausen, the worst of the concentration camps. He was in the Gusen Kommando at the time of the liberation. He returned to Belgium on 21 May 1945.