Transport list from Dossin Kazern

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I do not know who composed this document. It provides name, first name, maiden name or spouse, date of birth, the transport number and the individual number for that transport. Spouses are noted under their husband's name but refers to their maiden name for transport number.

I received the list with the names of Eisik and Sura and their children highlighted.

I let my eyes browse to the list these silent names give resonance to entire families, children and elders, birth dates raging from 1800's to late 1930's. Then on the second page I recognized some other names that I've seen before; "Frieda", Ryvka" Pasternak. Indeed I've seen these names in the little black notebook ;

So here we can identify

notebook => printed paper

"pasternak Vrieda" => "Pasternak Frida :zie KLEIN"

"pasternak refka snoetsi" => "Pasternak, Ryvka : zie SMUTZ Ryvka"

I think that Frieda and Ryvka where relatives to Sura. Maybe sisters ? For this the rest of the pages of the Dossin documents could reveal dates of birth and at least identify the generation to which Frieda and Ryvka belong to.

Names, and more names.

Jozef Kahan's last known written words from Dossin Kazerne

I hereby show the letter written on 27.09.1942 by Jozef to "Charlot Dokx" which refers to my grand-mother Charlotte Dockx. 

I already explained the lay-out this document when I published the letter from Sara Schiffer. We see here that Jozef was bound for transport n°12, and held number "130".

The letter was adressed to Lange Kievitstraat 101 in Antwerpen. However, my grand-mother did not live there, I know from family hearsay she lived north of Antwerpen near Schoten. The Lange Kievitstraat is part of the streets that were targetted by the authorities for deportation, in the midst of teh jewish quarter. As one can read on page 26 of this document the Lange Kievitstraat had the most jews deported, thus at the time of writing this letter I do not expect anyone to live there anymore (and there yet). 

Charlotte was married to Jozef's brother, Avram. As a non-Jewish person I guess it was much less dangerous for her to go to this adress and take the mail. Avram was hidden at that time - Jozef knew in some way he could not have the letter delivered to his brother thus combined the person most free of movement and the adress he knew. 

I still need to validate who lived on LangeKievitstraat 101 at that time.

Now about the letter itself.

here is the dutch/flemish text word by word :

"Fruchten en andere levensmiddelen zoals suiker of brood  ?enwarmeflesch met een schoteltje ook confituur en een mes en wat u denkt dat ik nodig heb"

Signed: KAHANJ  Zaal 2

First the english translation :

Fruit and other foodstuff like suggar or bread. ?nd warm bottle with a saucer 
also jam and a knife and what you think that I need.

Signed KAHANJ  Room 2

Now some comments from my side:
The word mes (knife) has been striked through by a pencil of another colour than the writing; this is censorship by the authorities. Jozef was 13 years old, asking for a knife shows so much that this child still thought that some normality would be possible, where children use a knife to cut the bread.
Except the first word "Fruchten" which should be spelled Vruchten there are no grammatical or orthographe errors - not sure today's 13 y. old would write as such.


This letter is the last testimonial that Jozef left to this world. He was death, murdered in Auschwitz, less than 3 weeks later.

Sara Schiffer

The fact I cound not find Sara Schipfer back in the Yad Vashem database of names puzzled me. Indeed the fact she was deported via Dossin Kasern should have left enough evidence and trace of her deportation.

Yesterday evening I went back to the scan of her letter and expanded it to the maximum on my screen. I then looked at her signature :

That was the key. Her name was not Schipfer, but SCHIFFER.

Finding her name in Yad Vashem database was then immediate. Her is her record. A sad confirmation of her death.

I notice the record reports she was part of  Convoi 19, No 30 , whereas her letter shows what would look like XVIII or 18, not 19.

Looking at this handwritten roman number I notice the "I" in the mid of the "V". Would that mean that Sara Schiffer started writing "XI" which is the beginning of "XIX" =19 ? and then corrected for some reason into XVIII =18 ? Or did she wanted to write "XVIIII" which is not correct from roman point of view but can be understood as 18+1=19 ?

The answer lays maybe in this document I found on wikipedia (so to be confirmed by other sources).

It seems that transport 18 and 19 both departed on January 15th 1943. The explanation might then be that she was bound for 18 but in practice was part of convoy 19. 

I agree this numbering is totally irrelevant to the facts and horror, but I think the more precise I can be in understanding these documents, the more credible all other research will be, and close doors on the 'unbelievers'.

Sara Schipfer

In the binder is a manuscript paper dated 21.12.1942 and which is a letter Sara SCHIPFER wrote to my grandmother; Charlotte Dockx.

In fact it is not a letter, it is a pre-printed document in german which gives us the following information from top to bottom:

"Sammellager Mecheln, Kasern Dossin" : This is a document made by the german occupier for the Dossin kasern in Mechelen.
"Lagernummer": can be translated as 'location number'. I think (to be verified) that this is your number within a transport.
"Transportnummer": is the number of the convoy (train) that went from Mechelen to the death camp Auschwitz.

I here write down the text she wrote down as things she wanted to be send to her.

Original in dutch:

"2 kussens van het 

bed in het kleine kamertje

onder de matras liggen de zakken, 1 pak brood, gekookte

aardappelen in schel, een

glas confituur, en honing

ligt er ook, een doos melk

in de schuif van de comode ligt 

havermout en gedroogde vermicelle

een beetje boter, in de keuken persil pakje"

I translate to english as literally as possible :

"2 pillows of the

bed in the small room

under the matras are the bags, 1 leaf of bread, boiled

patatoes with peel, one

glas of jam, and honey

there is also, one box of milk

in the drawer of the chest there are

oat flakes and dried vermicelle

a bit of butter, in the kitchen a small pack of parsley"

The fact I can show this letter is the proof that it reached my grandmother. The adress is clearly noted down, lange kievitstraat 101, Antwerpen. This street is very close to the Antwerp station and where a lot of jews lived already before the war. The street comes back in many documents I have, also with different house numbers.

Of course this document is very factual and does not leave room for any other message from the prisoner than a "wishlist". However I have many reflexions when reading this document.

1° The numbering (location 869, transport XVIII) is the proof that everything around the transport to Auswitz was planned and organized

2° The fact prisoners had to write this down is cynical. Why did it had to be written down on this document which is adressed outside ?

3° The fact this document reached me certifies that when prisoners were asked to write such a letter, these were effectively sent. So this means that the outside world, or at least the adressees, knew that transport was planned, and as they were numbered that they were several.

4° The document is well written. There are no grammatical or spelling errors. This means that Sara Schipfer was well educated and integrated in the antwerp flemish life. Sometimes the jewish community was described as closed, separationist. It was not, otherwise one could not write that well in dutch, imho.

Some questions that remain ;

- Why did she write to my grandmother ?

- Where did Sara Schipfer live before being arrested and emprisoned at Dossin ?  Probably Antwerp.

And the most obcessing ones; 

- Did Sara Schipfer survive deportation ? I looked up her name in the Yad Vashem database but could not find her name.

- Did Sara Schipfer had relatives then, and are there any direct or indirect descendants today for which this document could mean something ?

Update 2020: Several answers.

In "Moniteur Belge/Belgisch Staatsblad"

You should now read this update for new and improved understanding.