Henoch Kujawski. Collection

Henoch Kujawski was born in Lodz, Poland, on 21 July 1902 as the son of Syze Kujawski and Jenta Rosenes. Henoch became a painter’s apprentice and emigrated from Poland to Belgium in December 1926. He first settled in La Louvière, but moved to Brussels in 1928. On 29 December 1928, he married Chaja Troche, who was born in Warsaw, Poland, on 21 September 1902. She was a leather worker and had joined her brother Abram Troche in Belgium in March 1926 after both their parents had passed away. Henoch and Chaja’s son Sam was born on 28 November 1930 in Brussels. Henoch Kujawski became a market vendor to provide for his family. The Kujawski-Troche family lived in Brussels when Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940. As of October 1940 more and more anti-Jewish measures were introduced. In December 1941 the Militärbefehlshaber proclaimed that Jewish children could no longer attend non-Jewish schools. Those of school age (six to fourteen, later sixteen) were allowed to finish the school year in their non-Jewish school. All toddlers and teenagers, however, could not return after the Christmas break. In Brussels, no Jewish schools existed at the end of 1941. Under impulse of Charles (Chaim) Cymring (b. 15/11/1920 in Warsaw, Poland), a young law student, courses were organised for Jewish students from the age of 16 to 18. In May 1942, his initiative became the Ecole moyenne juive de Bruxelles (Jewish Middle School of Brussels). Students were trained there to become teachers at the newly erected Jewish schools, work that protected them from forced labour. The Ecole moyenne juive itself recruited dozens of teachers and other types of staff members, issuing work permits to protect them against arrest and deportation. The school was placed under patronage of the Association des Juifs en Belgique (Association of Jews in Belgium). However, his work permit did not protect Henoch Kujawski. He, his wife Chaja Troche and their son Sam were arrested on 26 June 1943 and taken to the Dossin barracks. All were murdered after deportation to Auschwitz-Birkenau via Transport XXI on 31 July 1943. Henoch’s employer Charles Cymring was deported from the Dossin barracks to Auschwitz-Birkenau via Transport XXV on 19 May 1944 and also perished.

In 2011, mister and misses Lagneaux-Recloux from Chimay discovered this document in a bundle they purchased at a flea market. The item was subsequently offered to the Israeli embassy in Brussels. Hélène Potasznik then donated the document to Kazerne Dossin.

Mister and misses Lagneaux-Recloux, 2011