① memo 20160515 ~ Witness – Francine Mayran ~ Passive witnesses, guilty witnesses? — Francine Mayran’s memory track at the commemoration of Transport XX — May 15 , 2011 in Boortmeerbeek , Belgium.
Film : Michel van der Burg – michelvanderburg.com | 1-memo.com
Translation in captions (subtitles) will follow later in an optimized video.
For now – below text Dutch translation.
Toespraak Francine Mayran *
…
Toen Marc Michiels mij uitnodigde om deel te nemen aan de herdenkings-plechtigheid voor het XXste konvooi, heb ik geen moment geaarzeld.Op dit ogenblik loopt er van mij een tentoonstelling : “Passieve getuigen, schuldige getuigen?” in het fort van Breendonk.
“Passieve getuigen, schuldige getuigen?” omvat schilderijen, teksten en keramiek van mijn hand, en wil de positie van getuigen ten aanzien van de geschiedenis in vraag stellen.Hier in Boortmeerbeek de houding herdenken van drie jonge mannen die resoluut de passiviteit afwezen en zich hebben verzet tegen de onverschilligheid, gaf voor mij een extra dimensie aan mijn werk rond herinnering.
Ik zal hier zo goed mogelijk proberen uitleggen (in zoverre ik dat zelf al helemaal begrepen heb) hoe ik er toe gekomen ben om de Shoah te schilderen, en met welke bedoeling ik dit heb gedaan.
Dit heeft geleid tot de uitgave van het boek “La Shoah et son ombre” (De Shoah en zijn schaduw) en het opzetten van een serie tentoonstellingen omtrent herinneringen aan de Shoah doorheen Europa.
Vandaag loopt het spoor van de herinnering naar Breendonk en Boortmeerbeek.
U kan vandaag ook kennis maken met mijn schilderijen en teksten in een kleine tentoonstelling die ingehuldigd zal worden na deze herdenking in het gemeentehuis van Boortmeerbeek .Ik schilder al heel mijn leven.
Drie jaar geleden is mijn kleurenpallet helemaal veranderd, zonder te weten waarom.
Vrolijke, levendige, expressieve kleuren ruimden de plaats voor meer sombere tinten.
Ik wist toen nog niet dat de Shoah reeds door mijn hoofd dwaalde, en ook in mijn doeken. Ik heb dit pas een jaar later ontdekt toen foto‟s van weggevoerden zich aan mij hebben opgedrongen.In de woorden van schilder Samuel Bak was ik het niet die koos voor de Shoah, maar was het de Shoah die mij koos om getuigenissen uit te dragen.
Het schilderen werd mij als het ware opgelegd om over te brengen wat eigenlijk niet overgebracht kan worden, namelijk volkerenmoord op mannen, vrouwen en kinderen wiens enige misdaad het was Jood te zijn, of zigeuner.Net zoals er gebeurd is bij zovele anderen zoals de Armeniers in 1915, de Cambodjanen in 1975 of de Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994.
Het zijn eerst en vooral landschapstekeningen die ons een immer actuele vraag doen stellen: “Hoe kan men de voortekenen van een genocide- drama herkennen vooraleer het te laat is?”Het is moeilijk toe te geven, maar het gebeurde hier, bij jullie, bij ons, dichtbij, dicht bij ons. Het was verschrikkelijk, onmogelijk, onbegrijpelijk, bijna-onuitspreekbaar.
…
* Vertaling Frans → Nederlands door Paul Van den Ende / Marc Michiels
① memo 20160423 ~ Site Of Attack On Transport XX ~ Site of the attack on the deportation train ‘Transport XX’ – a cattle car train crammed with 1631 Jewish passengers, heading for Auschwitz.
Here in Boortmeerbeek , Belgium, the night of April 19, 1943, three young men from Brussels – Youra Livschitz, Robert Maistriau and Jean Franklemon – attacked and stopped this cattle car train, succeeded in opening one of the cars and liberate 17 people. Another more than 200 others could jump out also before the train reached the German border. Site filmed May 15, 2011.
① memo 20160421 ~ Memory Track ~ Régine Krochmal and Francine Mayran listening to the poem “Ce que j’ai encore à vous dire” by Serge Smulevic – read by his cousin Georges Rakier – at the 2011 commemoration of Transport XX in Boortmeerbeek , Belgium
① memo 20160420 ~ Oh My Kinneret – Ameet ~ “Oh my Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) … oh my Kinneret did you exist, or did I dream a dream. From Ameet Kanon singing Ve’ulai to honor her great-grandmother’s memory – who was three-months pregnant that night on April 1943 in Belgium, when she jumped from the fast moving 20th Train heading for Auschwitz. Los Angeles , Holocaust Remembrance Day 2014 – Here a link to her complete song Ve’ulai.
Transport XX herdenking 2016 – “Een radicale keuze…” – Update April 22
① memo 20160419 ~ Radical Choice … Transport XX” ~ 2016 commemoration , theme “A radical choice…” in Boortmeerbeek , Belgium , April 17, 2016 .
Video online 19 April 2016.
UPDATE video 22 April 2016.
Film : Michel van der Burg – michelvanderburg.com | 1-memo.com .
Transport XX — face to face | 2010 edition | 20200609 release*
SlideShow showing some 40 frames (with sound) from the video “Transport XX face to face” (Note 20220616 : video no longer available).
Below some frames from this video.
Still 01 | Transport XX face to face | 20110119
Still 02 | Transport XX face to face | 20110119
Still 03 | Transport XX face to face | 20110119
Still 11 | Transport XX face to face | 20110119
Still 40 | Transport XX face to face | 20110119
About this video
A short evocation of the TRANSPORT XX Installation in Brussels 2009, that confronted passers-by with 1200 portraits of Jews (from Belgium, Holland, and other countries) deported on this 20th train convoy from Belgium to Auschwitz on 19 April 1943. Many deportees managed to escape, among others when three young men stopped the convoy that night …
A first edition of the film was published (see below) as “TRANSPORT XX – installation Brussels” via youtube.com/channel012.
Thank you: Marjan Verplancke and other co-workers of the Kazerne Dossin / Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance in Mechelen (Belgium) and project “Give them a Face”.
The Kazerne Dossin – kazernedossin.eu – digitalized the photo’s of the Dossin prisoners, that mostly are from the “National State Archives of Belgium. Ministry of Justice, Public Safety Office, Foreigner’s Police, individual files” URL arch.be/ .
With the ‘Give Them a Face’ project the Kazerne Dossin aims to bring together as many portraits of deportees from the Dossin barracks in Mechelen as possible and give them back their face – and the memory alive.
Notes (3)
1) Making of the film: Note that this movie originally started as pure registration – in a few ‘long takes’ – of these quite overwhelming visual impressions from my first encounter with this installation (not yet aware actually of the factual history of these portraits). Only the next day, after completing the capturing of 4 long takes while walking back and forth the rows of portraits – did I read the caption halfway the installation, and first became aware of the background, more or less: that is, the history and ‘identity’ of the portraits and this ‘transport’. This prompted the idea for this visual account with the superimposed montage of the imagery of two of the takes, combined with the ambient sound (with of the lowest levels of wind noise) of a third take.
2) A first edition of this film (“TRANSPORT XX – installation Brussels”) was published on 19 april 2009 via “channel012” at YouTube- and that version was also added in 2009 to the collection of the Dossin Barracks / Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance (Mechelen, Belgium).
3) This ‘final cut’ now named “Transport XX face to face” has some editing corrections and a new title and credits. This edition was first published October 2010 in the 7th round of the New Arrivals 2010 / 2011 of the dutch broadcaster ‘NTR’. New Arrivals | KORT! ntr: (no longer available via this link)
http://www.kortefilmonline.ntr.nl/page/detail/newarrivals/video/788830/transport-xx—face-to-face
(Also uploaded via Vimeo 2 days ago)
Update 20111215 credits / link info
Posted by michelvanderburg – Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Comment :
Dear Michel,
thanks for your good work. I wanted to point you a small but significant detail: transport XX was the 1rst time where a special wagon (Sonderwagen) was added with 19 resistants and “jumpers” (18 men & 1 women) from previous transports. The wagon was located just before the last wagon with the guards. It is possible that they were marked with red paint on the back of their clothes in order to destroy them automatically on arrival at Auschwitz. The pictures of these 19 prisonners was excluded from the mural exposition outside Dossin Kaserne. In my opinion their pictures should be added as it is our duty to honor their memory.
Alain Blitz – Kibbutz Hasolelim, Israel – granson of Chaskel Feiwel Blitz, N0. 9 on the Sonderwagen of Transport XX
Wednesday, 13 April 2011 at 14:24:00 CEST
Republished 20220621 by Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg•com , from imichel•com | imichel•blogspot•com | 20110119
*Note Update 20220621 Transport XX — face to face | 2010 edition | 20200609 release
TAGS #Auschwitz #Belgium #Brussels #convoy #deportation #escape #holocaust #Jew #JMDR #Jood #Kazerne Dossin #Malines #Mechelen #shoah #train #Transport XX #republish #imichel #imichelcom #blogspot #blogger #1Memo #michelvanderburg
