Dublon-Beerman family. Collection

Willy Otto Dublon was born in Apolda, Germany, on 13 September 1889, as the son of Albert Dublon and Johanna Stern. On 24 October 1926, Willy Otto married Erna Beerman, born in Steinfurt, Germany, on 27 January 1903, as the daughter of Hermann Beerman and Marguerite Moda. Willy and Erna’s two daughters were both born in Erfurt : Lore (alias Lotte) on 26 August 1927 and Eva on 13 September 1933. Willy Otto Dublon owned the shoe store “Salamander Schuhe”. He sought a way to leave Germany after the Nazis rose to power and was able to obtain four Cuban landing cards and a spot for his family on the MS St. Louis in 1939. On 13 May 1939, the MS St. Louis left the port of Hamburg, Germany, with on board 937 Jewish refugees among whom Willy Otto Dublon, his wife Erna Beerman, their daughters Lore and Eva, and Willy Otto’s brother Erich Dublon (b. 06/11/1890 in Apolda, Germany). The journey went smoothly. However, upon arrival at Cuba on 27 May 1939 the Cuban government denied the passengers access because of a corruption scandal at the offices of the immigration authorities. On 6 June 1939, the MS St. Louis was forced to leave the port of Havana. Attempts to land in Florida and Latin-American countries failed. The captain of the MS St. Louis set sail for Europe while the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JOINT) succeeded in convincing Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom to take in the refugees. 214 of the Jewish passengers were allowed entry into Belgium. They disembarked in Antwerp on 18 June 1939. Misses Devos, living at Rue Lefrancq 36 in Brussels, took the Dublon-Beerman family in. After they received permission to stay in Belgium, the family moved to Schaerbeek, Brussels. Erich Dublon had found living quarters for himself in Saint-Gilles, Brussels. The family still lived in the capital when Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940. In the summer of 1942, Erich Dublon, brother of Willy Otto Dublon, received a convocation for forced labour (Arbeitseinsatzbefehl). He presented himself at the Dossin barracks on 6 August 1942 and did not survive deportation via Transport II to Auschwitz-Birkenau on 11 August 1942. According to the Auschwitz death records, Erich Dublon perished on 3 September 1942. Willy Otto Dublon was arrested and taken to the Dossin barracks on 23 December 1943. His wife Erna Beerman and daughters Lore and Eva Dublon were not incarcerated at the barracks until 8 January 1944. None of the family members survived deportation to Auschwitz-Birkenau via Transport XXIII on 15 January 1944.

In 2013, Irene Freudenheim contacted Kazerne Dossin with a question regarding a manuscript on the Dublon family she had translated. Via misses Freudenheim, Kazerne Dossin was able to reach out to Ruben Beerman, cousin of the Dublon-Beerman family. He very kindly made digital copies of several family photos available to Kazerne Dossin.

Ruben Beerman, cousin of the Dublon-Beerman family, via translater Irene Freudenheim, 2013