Karwasser-Higierowicz family. Collection.

Srul Karwaser/Karwasser was born in Warsaw in 1910, his future wife Chaja Higierowicz in Wolborzin 1914. He migrated from Poland to Belgium in 1930, she arrived from London in 1937. The couple got married in Belgium and in 1938 their daughter, Ida Zylvia Karwasser, was born in Uccle (Brussels). During the war, the family lived in Saint-Gilles (Brussels). In the autumn of 1942, their landloard, Charles Pontus, and his wife Alida, offered to hide Ida Zylvia. The little girl stayed with the Pontus family, whom she called grandmother and grandfather, until the end of the war. Srul Karwasser and Chaja Higierowicz were arrested on 25 November 1942 and were transferred to the Dossin barracks, where their names were added to the deportation list of transport XVIII. Thanks to the excellent leatherworking skills of Srul Karwasser, the couple was stricken from the list and was transferred to the Werkleute group (prisoner labour group in the Dossin barracks). Srul Karwasser became the head of the leather workshop at the Dossin barracks. Both Srul and his wife Chaja satyed at the camp until 4 September 1944, when the barracks were liberated. They were then reunited with their daughter Ida Zylvia Karwasser. Both Srul and Chaja became members of the "Association des Anciens Detenus de Malines" (Association of former detainees of the Dossin barracks). In 1946, their son Willy Michek Karwasser was born. The Karwasser-Higierowicz family migrated to Canada in 1951. In 2006 Charles and Alida Pontus were recognised as Righteous among the Nations.

The photos were saved by Charles Pontus from the family home after the arrest of Srul Karwasser and Chaja Higierowicz.

Karwasser family