Josef Blitz. Collection

Josef Dawid Blitz was born in Nowy Sacz, Poland, on 18 December 1925. The Blitz family migrated to Belgium in May 1929 and settled in Berchem (district of Antwerp). In 1930 they moved to Antwerp, where Josef's sister Debora was born in 1931. Josef Blitz, his mother Frimeta Hollander, his older sister Lieba Blitz and his younger sister Debora Blitz were arrested during the fourth anti-Jewish raid in Antwerp (24 September 1942) and sent to the Dossin barracks. They were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via Transport XI on 26 September 1942. Josef Blitz was selected for forced labour. The number 66200 was tattooed on his arm. He survived for two years in Auschwitz-Birkenau and also survived a death march to Rajsko. Josef Blitz was repatriated to Belgium on 13 July 1945. The rest of his family perished in the camps, his father Chaskiel Feiwel Blitz after deportation via transport XVII (escaped) and transport XX. In 1951 he married Anna Michrowski and two years later his first son was born. In 1955, Josef Blitz acquired Belgian citizenship. He passed away on 29 March 2010 and was burried at the cemetery of kibbutz Hasolelim in Israel.

These documents and photos have been in the possession of the Blitz family since 1945. In 1996 and 1997 Josef Blitz donated several originals to the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance, predecessor of Kazerne Dossin. After the death of Josef Blitz in 2010, his son Alain Blitz took over the collection and donated several digital copies of additional documents to Kazerne Dossin.

Josef Blitz and Alain Blitz, 1996, 1997 and 2010