Transport XX ~ Mark De Geest

Transport XX ~ Mark De Geest
NL – Transport XX . Bestemming Auschwitz. Een historische roman van Mark De Geest (1951) filmmaker in Belgie. Uitgever Horizon. Paperback 9789492958365 E-book 9789492958372 . Vandaag uitgekomen.
Tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog werden in België meer dan 25.000 Joden vanuit de Dossinkazerne in Mechelen per trein naar Auschwitz gedeporteerd. Drie jongemannen uit Brussel besluiten tot actie over te gaan en beramen een levensgevaarlijk plan om een volgende trein te stoppen en zoveel mogelijk gevangenen te bevrijden. Op 19 april 1943 vertrekt Jodentransport XX met 1.631 mannen, vrouwen en kinderen. Gewapend met slechts één pistool staan de drie jongemannen klaar om de trein tot stoppen te dwingen…
Meer dan 10 jaar geleden al raakte Mark De Geest geboeid door de overval op Transport XX. Hij hoopte er een film over te maken, en die plannen liggen nog op tafel, maar eerst is er nu deze historische roman.

Transport XX ~ Mark De Geest
EN – Historical novel (Dutch language) ‘Transport XX . Destination Auschwitz’ by Belgian filmmaker and author Mark De Geest .
More than 10 years ago Mark De Geest became fascinated by the attack on Transport XX. He hoped to make a film about it, and those plans are still in place , but he now publishes this historical novel first. Paperback 9789492958365 E-book 9789492958372 available from today.
I preordered all , and expect the e-book in the Apple Book Store later today (March 13, 2020).

English intro below from the online documentary film “Transport XX to Auschwitz” – https://michelvanderburg.com/2013/04/19/transport-xx-to-auschwitz/ .

During the Nazi occupation of Belgium 28 train convoys with over 25,000 Jews and 351 Roma left Mechelen towards the Auschwitz extermination camp.
On the night of April 19, 1943, the 20th transport headed East with 1631 Jewish passengers crammed into 40 cattle cars.
This ‘Transport XX’ left the Mechelen transit camp ‘Kazerne Dossin’ at 10 pm. and was attacked and stopped some 30 minutes later outside Brussels – near Boortmeerbeek.
Armed with only 1 pistol, pliers and an improvised red hurricane lamp the three young Belgians Robert Maistriau, Jean Franklemon, and Youra Livschitz – old schoolmates – stopped the train by putting the red lamp in the middle of rails. They were able to open one of the cattle cars and liberated 17 men and women. Another more than 200 prisoners escape from the train before the German border.

Book : Transport XX – Bestemming Auschwitz. Mark De Geest ISBN 9789492958365 | horizon.be
Film : 20200313 Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com | 1-memo.com

Transport XX ~ Additional Brussels 2009 Footage

Transport XX ~ Additional Brussels 2009 Footage .
For this film I have chosen footage of my February 2009 video recordings that has not been used before in the making of the short film “TRANSPORT XX – installation Brussels” (and later productions based on that film) – works published online before since Apr 19, 2009 at my web site(s), and collected in this 1st post : https://michelvanderburg.com/2009/04/19/transport-xx-installation-brussels/

The TRANSPORT XX installation in Brussels was organised from 27 January to 15 March 2009 by the BELvue Museum in collaboration with the JMDR / Dossin Barracks (Kazerne Dossin – more info below).
The photographic portraits were displayed outside in the Royal park in Brussels (opposite the Royal Palace). In this way passers-by were confronted with 1,200 faces of the victims.
This event commemorated the release of Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland) on 27 January 1945.

Passerby ~ Stumbling Stones Brussels

Passerby ~ Stumbling Stones Brussels
Little school kids yesterday afternoon, passing the stumbling stones in front of 92 Rue des Tanneurs (Huidevettersstraat – ‘Tanner street’) in the Marolles quarter of Brussels, of Mrs. Mirla Zalc (deported Jan 15, 1943 with transport #18) – widow of Jacob Eisenstab – and their three children Ida (deported Aug 15, 1942 with transport #3), Szlama (deported Aug 18, 1942 with transport #4), and Louis Eisenstab (deported April 19, 1943, number 1198 on transport #20). All murdered in Auschwitz. Film : 20200211 Michel van der Burg | 1-memo.com

Maks Bohm ~ Stumbling Stones Brussels

Maks Bohm ~ Stumbling Stones Brussels
Max Bohm (Maks Bohm – born 1922 in Germany) lived here – were I filmed this stolperstein today – in the Marolles district of Brussels at 112 Rue des Tanneurs (Huidevettersstraat – ‘Tanner street’) when he was arrested , and emprisoned in the nearby Mechelen transit camp (Kazerne Dossin) before being deported April 19, 1943 with Transport XX (the 20th train convoy direction Auschwitz). Max escaped, but he was arrested and deported again July 31, 1943 with the next convoy , Transport XXI , to Auschwitz were Max was murdered. Film : 20200210 Michel van der Burg | 1-memo.com

Ashes Pond | 20200127

Ashes Pond
An unforgettable moment for me that ‘touching the ash pond’ I filmed in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, were I was filming Simon Gronowski and Koenraad Tinel, May 2012, for the upcoming documentary film Miracles.
Into this pond were dumped the ashes of the people, who were murdered (gassed) and burned at the nearby crematorium.
Sharing this moment today for International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2020 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz camps. Courtesy of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim, Poland. Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp in Poland, May 24th 2012.
Film : Ashes Pond (20200127) Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com

Updates

20220604 – changes credit line

Child’s Cry

Child’s Cry is a musical edition of the film Transport XX Face To Face (20200110) matched to ‘Que Siga el Calor’ , an original song by Simon Lapscher, Moshe Bitton, and Samuel Truzman.
A special co-production for International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2020.

Comment by Samuel Truzman :
“Esta canción la escribimos cuando teníamos 16 años, con unos amigos con los que tenía una banda que se llamaba So Seven. La fuerza y el impacto de la canción y el sentimiento es el mismo, nunca olvidar.
Escrita por: Simon Lapscher, Bimbi y yo.”

English translation of Samuel’s comment (by me):
“This song we wrote when we were 16 years with some friends that had a band called So Seven. The strength and impact of the song and the feeling is the same, never forget.
Written by: Simon Lapscher, Bimbi and Samuel Truzman.”

Made possible by: Project “Give them a Face” – Kazerne Dossin: Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre on the Holocaust and Human Rights (Mechelen, BE); and the National State Archives of Belgium. Ministry of Justice, Public Safety Office, Foreigner’s Police, individual files.
Note : The film edition posted January 25, 2020 (20200125) is replaced by this Feb. 2, 2020 edition (20200202).
Music : Que Siga el Calor by Simon Lapscher, Moshe Bitton, and Samuel Truzman.
Film : Child’s Cry (20200125-20200202) Michel van der Burg | miracles.media

English translation of the spanish lyrics :

Uncertain life
Reality
Once again loses
…Its integrity
You were sitting on nana’s bed thinking about going out to play When will you be old enough…
…to learn how to die?
How to understand that here is where his childhood dies?
Strange men are taking Dad away
You can’t find the light
The sun goes down, and you’re thirsty inside a wagon
You’re starting to lose your illusion
Grace no longer covers you
She raises her voice, is impatient
Because the train’s driver did not warn her
That she was on the death train
So pitiful is humanity
She hides the truth
But that child
Who was not given a start
Could have been the captain
Of this ship
That knows not how to navigate
Me, you, him
We are all
Wanderers walking.

The death of the jew was proclaimed
He was laughing mercilessly
The cry of that child burned us
Tet the heat continue

The death of the jew was proclaimed
He was laughing mercilessly
The cry of that child burned us
Let the heat continue
Uncertain life
Reality.

Kriterion ~ Amsterdam

Kriterion ~ Amsterdam
A cinema steeped in history … ‘Kriterion’ began life as an Amsterdam student association involved in hiding and saving many Jews (an estimated 400 jewish children (Ref. 2) from Nazi persecution – next in 1945 the students opened cinema Kriterion (Ref. 3) in the former building (until 1942) of the ‘Handwerkers Vriendenkring’ association of mainly Jewish diamond workers – and 75 year later in Kriterion – still runned by the Amsterdam students – last night – arthouse cinema : screening of Beyond Index and post-screening Q&A with filmmaker Gerald Van Der Kaap.

Ref. 1 – https://www.kriterion.nl
Ref. 2 – https://www.cineville.nl/films/kriterion-herdenkt
Ref. 3 – Amsterdam Students Run Movie House. In : Higher Education – SemiMonthly publication of the higher education division – United States Office of Education, Fedural Security Agency. Vol. III, No. 7 , Washigton, D.C. December 1, 1946; Page 10 .

Film : 20200123 Michel van der Burg | 1-memo.com