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Sara Boeki was deported with her son Willy on transport XXIII from the Dossin Barracks in Mechelen to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Mother and son were murdered there.
Sara Boeki was born on December 15, 1915 in Amsterdam. She was the daughter of commercial agent Wolf Isaac Boeki (born February 21, 1890 in Rotterdam) and housewife Judith Stad (born May 24, 1893 in Antwerp). Sara was the eldest child of the family and had a younger sister Leentje (born September 10, 1930 in Paris) and two younger brothers: Isaac (born July 14, 1919 in Anderlecht) and Joël (born September 19, 1926 in Brussels).
Between 1915 and 1934, the Boeki family lived alternately in Belgium and France. In 1934, they settled permanently in Belgium and stayed for a few weeks in Hotel Monopole in Antwerp. Sara’s fiancé Saviano Vincenzo was also with them. At that time, Sara was 19-year-old and expecting her first child a few months later. Sara and Saviano then settled in Lange Winkelhaakstraat 27 in Antwerp, but moved two weeks later to Barastraat 12 in Anderlecht. Later that year, on December 6, 1934, son Willy Boeki was born in Liège. The path of the Boeki family between 1934 and 1938 is unclear. Sara lived in Paris for a while. Afterwards she moved to Zwarte Lieve Vrouwestraat 12 in Brussels. Finally, in 1938, she moved to Bisschopsstraat 10 in Brussels.
In May 1940 Nazi Germany invaded Belgium. The Boeki family obeyed the anti-Jewish laws of the occupation authorities. In November 1940, they registered in the Jewish Register of Brussels, and in 1942 they became members of the Jewish Association. Sara Boeki and her son Willy were arrested in January 1944 and registered on January 6 in the Dossin Barracks on transport XXIII under numbers 690 and 691. Transport XXIII left the Dossin Barracks in Mechelen on January 15, 1944, together with a special Roma transport, heading for Auschwitz-Birkenau. Sara and Willy were murdered.
After a year in hiding, Sara’s brother Isaac was also transported on September 20, 1943 with transport XXIIA from the Dossin Barracks to Auschwitz-Birkenau. This ‘A’ stood for Ausländisch (foreign). Like the previous 21 transports, transport XXIIA contained foreign Jews. Together with transport XXIIB, which contained Jews with Belgian identity, transport XXIIA went to Auschwitz, where Isaac’s trail ends. The rest of the Boeki family was not deported and probably survived the war.
Publication info:
ADRIAENS Ward, STEINBERG Maxime (et al.), Mecheln-Auschwitz, 1942-1944. The destruction of Jews and gypsies from Belgium, 4 volumes (volume 1), Brussels, 2009.
