“Zog nit keyn mol” – Never Say … the Yiddish Partisan Song written in 1943 by Hirsh Glick.
Special, limited, Transport XX commemoration this year in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium on 21th April 2025.
Photo, video, thanks to Michel Baert and Nick Doms, Municipal council Boortmeerbeek.
Watch also the entire Boormeerbeek Crescendo choir singing “Zog nit keyn mol” here
https://youtu.be/FmXmhzzuUc4
Citation info : Transport XX Boortmeerbeek 2025 • Miracles•Media | 20250423
Following the first installation May 2007 in Boortmeerbeek (Belgium) of the 4 canvases with portraits of the attackers and the escapees of Transport XX (1), the installation was next shown in Cologne (Köln) January 26-27, 2008, at the Cologne Central Station (Köln Hauptbahnhof), in front of the Cologne Cathedral – image installation above.
The information – DE, German language, quoted below – on this ‘ Poster campaign “Resistance and Survival” ‘ was published in 2010 at the Open Memory site by the ‘Initiative “Bahn erinnern“ ‘ from Köln (2).
Here the English translation (by Michel van der Burg, with an update of the quoted numbers in Notes*)
Poster exhibition 26 – 27 January 2008, Cathedral square, Cologne Central Station
The outstanding action against deportation trains of the Deutschen Reichsbahn, transporting Jews to the extermination camps, took place in Boortmeerbeek (Belgium). On April 19, 1943, three men stopped the train on the way to Auschwitz, opened a wagon, and thus enabled 17 people to escape. A further 215 people were able to free themselves before the German border, 119 of them survived the Nazi terror thanks to the support of the people in Belgium. *
In cooperation with Boortmeerbeek and the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance (JMDR) in Mechelen, the “Bahn erinnern” Initiative displayed four large billboards on the Cathedral square of the Cologne Central Station, commemorating this resistance action.
In short contributions, guests from Belgium and members of the Initiative described the course of the action and focused in particular on the widespread resistance of the population against the persecution of Jews in Belgium. Their courageous advocacy for the persecuted saved more than half of the Jewish population from extermination by the Nazis.
DE
Plakatausstellung 26. – 27.1.2008 Bahnhofsvorplatz Köln
Die herausragende Aktion gegen Deportationszüge der Deutschen Reichsbahn, die Juden in die Vernichtungslager transportierten, fand in Boortmeerbeek (Belgien) statt. Am 19. April 1943 wurde der Zug auf dem Weg nach Auschwitz von drei Männern angehalten, ein Waggon geöffnet und so 17 Menschen die Flucht ermöglicht. Bis zur deutschen Grenze konnten sich weitere 215 Menschen selbst befreien, 119 von ihnen überlebten durch die Unterstützung der Bevölkerung in Belgien den Nazi-Terror. *
In Zusammenarbeit mit der Stadt Boortmeerbeek und dem Jüdischen Deportations- und Widerstandsmuseum in Mechelen zeigte die Initiative „Bahn erinnern“ auf dem Vorplatz des Kölner Hauptbahnhofs vier große Plakatwände, die an diese Widerstandsaktion erinnern.
In kurzen Beiträgen beschrieben Gäste aus Belgien und Mitglieder der Initiative den Verlauf der Aktion und gingen insbesondere auf den von der Bevölkerung breit getragenen Widerstand gegen die Judenverfolgung in Belgien ein. Deren couragiertes Eintreten für die Verfolgten rettete mehr als die Hälfte der jüdischen Bevölkerung vor der Vernichtung durch die Nazis.
Image : Transport XX Köln 2008 | Collection Marc Michiels | Miracles•Media | 20240720 | TakeNode 4c18fc2a-e4bc-4485-8380-aa3a260b3a5d
*Update numbers : A total of 238 deportees managed to escape from the train, however 90 were soon recaptured and put on the next convoy, 26 were shot dead and 122 succeeded in their escape (3).
Installation : The four large canvases of three meters high and five meters wide are placed ‘wagon-like’ next to each other. It shows the portraits of 236 deported Jews who managed to escape from the XXth transport on Belgian territory. The first of the four large canvases also features the three young Brussels’ men who stopped the train, Youra (Georges) Livschitz, Jean Franklemon and Robert Maistriau. Portraits are mostly from the State Archives, Brussels, digitized by Kazerne Dossin / JMDR (Mechelen, Belgium) for the project ‘Give them a face’.
1. Canvases Transport XX – Boortmeerbeek | Collection Marc Michiels | Miracles•Media | 20240418
2. Initiative “Bahn erinnern”. Open Memory. URL http://open-memory.info/bahnerinnern . Retrieved Nov 27, 2013.
3. TRANSPORT XX installation Mechelen | Miracles•Media | 20240518
4. Marc Michiels – the Boortmeerbeek expert author on the history of Transport XX, and longtime coordinator of the annual Transport XX commemorations in Boortmeerbeek – wrote , that the “…four canvases ….were loaned to the German Democratic youth in 2008 for the exhibition ‘Deportationen mit einem Güterwaggon auf dem Bahnhofsvorplatz’ at the Cologne train station. Translation by Michel van der Burg, from Michiels’ dutch book :
Het XXste transport naar Auschwitz (2019). Marc Michiels, Mark Wijngaert (eds. Davidsfonds / Standaard Uitgeverij). ISBN 9789059089808
5. Installation Open Memory | Miracles•Media | 20240715
Citation info : Transport XX Köln 2008 | Collection Marc Michiels / Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media | 20240720
Simon’s escape route from Transport XX …
Watch at Miracles•Media – https://miracles.media/2024/07/16/cuttecoven-miracles-moment-3-20240716/
Faces of the attackers and escapees of Transport XX reflecting in the windows of this train leaving Boortmeerbeek station direction Mechelen, during the commemoration May 15, 2011 of Transport XX to Auschwitz.
The night of April 19, 1943, the 20th convoy left the transit camp Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen, with 1631 jewish deportees in circa 33 cattle cars heading for Auschwitz.
After passing the Boortmeerbeek train station, the three young Brussels’ heroes Youra Livschitz, Robert Maistriau, and Jean Franklemon, attacked this 20th convoy, opening one of the cars, and liberating 17 people.
A total of 238 deportees managed to escape from this death train before the Belgian border, by opening the cattle cars from the inside, with the help of some 20 jewish resistance fighters among the deportees, and also a second hold-up shortly after midnight at Korbeek-Lo.
The total number of 238 escapees (data update April 2024) , includes (i) the 17 people liberated during the attack in Boortmeerbeek, (ii) the escape of the 6-year-old boy Aron Luksenberg (a recent finding by Jo Peeters) , and (iii) the escape of Viviane , who escaped in the womb of her three-months pregnant mother Isabella Weinreb-Castegnier, and was born 6 months later in Brussels (Miracles.Media).
Just over half of the number of escapees – a total of 122 – managed to escape permanently — 26 escapees were shot dead when they jumped, and 90 escapees were recaptured and redeported…
Notes
Reflection shows the Transport XX – installation Boortmeerbeek, of four large canvases of three meters high and five meters wide placed ‘wagon-like’ next to each other, parallel to the Mechelen-Leuven railway line, with portraits of deported Jews who managed to escape from the XXth transport on Belgian territory. The first of the four large canvases also features the three young men who stopped the train, Youra (Georges) Livschitz, Jean Franklemon and Robert Maistriau.
The Transport XX – installation Boortmeerbeek was created for the 2007 Boortmeerbeek commemoration of Transport XX, with the theme: ‘Give Them a face’, and later commemoration events, thanks to Marc Michiels (commemoration coordinator) in collaboration with Marjan Verplancke and co-workers of the project “Give Them a Face” of Kazerne Dossin / Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance in Mechelen (Belgium) . Portraits of escapees are mostly from the State Archives, Brussels, digitized by Kazerne Dossin. Boortmeerbeek.
Citation info : Resistance | Miracles Moment #2 | Miracles•Media | 20240515 | ISAN 0000-0007-36B4-0002-A-0000-0000-7 | TakeNode bc70ea7c-278e-4f84-982c-4e926030c405
Marc Michiels – expert author on the history of Transport XX and coordinator for many years of the annual Transport XX commemorations in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium – unfortunately passed away April 2021 . Some months later his web site ‘holocaust’ (at telenet.be) dedicated to Transport XX was taken offline.
Now — when searching for info on Robert Korten – Marc’s predecessor as the first coordinator and founder of the XXth convoy-commemorations – I was happy to to find Marc’s website is back online, now at the appropriate new domain : transportxxboortmeerbeek.be
Citation info : Transport XX Boortmeerbeek – Marc Michiels | 20240309 | Miracles•Media | TakeNode fd808fa3-09f2-4c0d-b9c8-f711a47b05ba | URL 1-memo.com/2024/03/09
Full story available in free e-Book download :
Viviane Yarom-Castegnier & Michel van der Burg. Viviane’s Story: Escape from Transport XX… Born 6 Months Later [e-Book]. Boskoop, Miracles.Media, 2019. Distribution [ISBN (ePUB) : 978-94-93147-00-3 | ISBN (pdf) : 978-94-93147-01-0]. URL https://miracles.media/vivianesstory/
Citation : Viviane – 80 Years After Escape From Transport XX | 20231030 | Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media | TakeNode 84175450-c147-4fd9-9039-8ca85995ff46
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