Hollander-Götz family. Collection

Vigdor Getsel (Victor) Hollander was born in Neu-Sandez, Austro-Hungarian empire, now Nowy Sacz in Poland, on 20 April 1887. He became a diamond trader and, in November 1909, emigrated to Belgium, where he settled in Antwerp. On 1st December 1909, he married Terez Eckstein, born in Moskolizi, Hungary, on 14 September 1888. Their oldest son, Mauritz Leo Hollander, was born in Antwerp on 16 December 1909. Three more boys followed : Marcel (b. 31/05/1912), Julius (b. 31/01/1915) and Ezriel Nathum (b. 29/06/1924). In August 1914, while visiting Vigdor Getsel Hollander’s parents in Scheveningen, Germany invaded Belgium. For the duration of the First World War, the Hollander family remained in the Netherlands, where third son Julius was born. In 1919 they returned to Antwerp, where oldest son Mauritz Leo Hollander passed away on 26 September 1922. On 11 and 12 September 1942, the Nazis organised a big anti-Jewish raid in Antwerp. Among the hundreds of people that were arrested was also Vigdor Getzel Hollander. He did not survive deportation from the Dossin barracks to Auschwitz-Birkenau via Transport X on 15 September 1942. His wife, Terez Eckstein, survived the war hiding in Antwerp with her mother and emigrated to Israel in 1949. During the Second World War, Marcel found refuge in Latin-America and then joined the Belgian armed forces in Canada. Post-war he emigrated to the USA. Julius and his brother Ezriel (alias Pino) lived in London during the war. They post-war returned to Belgium after which Julius also migrated to Israël. Ezriel returned to Antwerp and married Louise Rachel Götz in 1949. Louise Rachel Götz was born in Antwerp on 27 February 1927 as the daughter of diamond cutter Moses Götz (b. 28/01/1897 in Jaroslaw, Poland) and his wife Ryfka Pschetizki (b. 16/06/1902 in Mlawa, Poland). While Rachel and her mother survived the war in hiding in Belgium, Moses Götz was deported from the Dossin barracks to Auschwitz-Birkenau via Transport XIX on 15 January 1943 and subsequently perished. After Louise married Ezriel Hollander in 1949, the couple migrated to Israel that same year. They had three children, among who daughter Muriel Michal Hollander, the donor. The couple Hollander-Götz returned to Belgium in 1960 with their three children. Ezriel Nathum Hollander passed away in Brussels in 1999, Louise Rachel Götz in 2017. Louise’s maternal aunt, Esther alias Hana Pschetizki (b. 10/02/1894 in Mlawa, Poland) had been widowed before the war. Esther and her deceased husband Joseph Helfgott had four sons : Abraham (b. 06/04/1913 in Borgerhout, Antwerp), Isaak (b. 09/07/1916 in Antwerp), Eliezer (alias Leon, b. 09/03/1919 in The Hague, the Netherlands) and Israel (alias Simon, b. 10/05/1920 in Antwerp). Although Esther Pschetizki survived the war in Belgium, she lost all of her sons. Isaak Helfgott was able to flee to the United Kingdom and became a sailor in the British navy. He was killed when the St. Elwyn was attacked by a German U-boat on 28 November 1940. Israel alias Simon Helfgott, member of the communist party before 1939, became a leading figure among the armed partisans in Antwerp known as “Rikske”. He was killed in action in April 1943. Abraham and Eliezer were both deported from Drancy, France, in 1944 : Abraham Helfgott to Auschwitz-Birkenau via Transport 66, Eliezer Helfgott to Kaunas via Transport 73. Both perished.

Muriel Hollander, daughter of Ezriel Nathum Hollander and Rachel Götz, donated digital copies of both photos to Kazerne Dossin in 2012.

Muriel Hollander, daughter of Ezriel Nathum Hollander and Rachel Götz, 2012