Rosa Keck

Rosa Keck, a Gypsy of German nationality, gave birth to her first two children in Germany, Rudolf, in Deutz, near Cologne, in 1932, and Sophia, in Kreuznach, also near Cologne, in 1935. Rosa Keck and her children were arrested in Hasselt together with the rest of the Keck family on 23 November 1943. They were sent to the Dossin Barracks on 25 November with 43 other Gypsies. After being detained for 50 days in appalling conditions, the Gypsies were deported on Transport Z (Zigeuners) to Birkenau. All were registered and interned in the family camp, which was simply a place to die. Rosa’s baby was close to term when she was deported. The child was born in the family camp on 29 January 1944 and died on 25 March. Her daughter, Sophia, 8 years old, Z 9,788, died in the same camp in May 1944. Rudolf, 11 years old, Z 9,069, did not survive either. Rosa, registration number Z9,786, was lucky enough to be transferred and put to work in Ravensbrück in August before the liquidation of the Zigeunerfamilienlager. In February 1945, she was evacuated to Bergen-Belsen where she survived the typhus epidemic before being liberated by the British army. She returned to Belgium on 24 June 1945.