Malka Zimetbaum

Malka Zimetbaum, a 22-year-old Polish Jew, was a pattern cutter by profession. She lived on Marinistraat, in the Jewish quarter of Borgerhout in Antwerp. The street was at the heart of the third great raid in Antwerp, on 11 and 12 September 1942. She was interned in the Dossin Barracks the day before her deportation. When Transport 10 arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau, she was selected for work and given the women’s registration number: 19880. She soon became a courier in the Auschwitz complex. As she moved around the camp she was able to help her fellow “Belgian” detainees in the women’s camp in Birkenau. She escaped on 24 June 1944 with Edek Galiski, a Polish prisoner. The couple was caught on 6 July at Bielitz and taken back to the camp. The two escapees were publicly executed to set an example, Malka in the women’s camp, and Edek, in the men’s camp.