Natan Ramet. Collection
Extent and Medium
606 digitised images (18 documents, 111 photos, 8 objects, 60 newspapers and precious prints, 1 drawing)
Creator(s)
- Natan Ramet
Biographical History
Natan Ramet was born in Warsaw, Poland, on 5 June 1925 as the son of Judka Ramet (born on 21 June 1886 in Warsaw) and Sura Polakiewicz (born on 15 January 1898 in Drohosiem, Poland). He had an older sister named Felicie who was born on 27 August 1921. In 1930, the family emigrated from Poland to Belgium as they were regularly confronted with antisemitism and violence against the Jewish community in their hometown. In Belgium, the Ramet family settled at Grotesteenweg 21 in Berchem, Antwerp. Natan attended classes at the municipal primary school at Belgiëlei and, as a teenager, at the Berchem athenaeum. Even before the war, in both institutions, he was confronted with the antisemitic attitude of some of the teachers and pupils. Although the economic crisis hit the Ramet family hard, Judka was able to regain his economic independence quickly. He found employment in the Antwerp diamond industry and became a diamond broker. The Ramet family took regular trips to the Belgian seaside, and even visited their family in Poland in the 1930s. On 10 May 1940 Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium. Natan, his parents and sister were subsequently forced to obey the anti-Jewish decrees. They registered in the municipal Jewish register on 18 December 1940, became members of the Association of Jews in Belgium in March 1942 and wore the yellow star of David as of June 1942. Antisemitism and discrimination had an increasing impact on their daily lives. On 14 April 1941, Natan witnessed the pogrom organized in the Jewish neighborhood of Antwerp. Additionally, he was expelled from the athenaeum of Berchem on 5 January 1942, after which he was forced to attend the Jewish athenaeum at Terliststraat instead. His sister Felicie, who was studying to become a teacher, took on a job at a school run by the Association of Jews in Belgium. In August 1942, all members of the Ramet family received an Arbeitseinsatzbefehl, a work order summoning them to report themselves at the SS-Sammellager Mecheln (Dossin barracks) for labour. After a visit to the main office of the Association of Jews in Belgium, Natan’s mother Sura and his sister Felicie were exempted since Felicie was working for the Association. On 21 August 1942, Natan and his father took a train to Brussels where Judka had found them a hiding place. However, they were arrested by Feldgendarmeren checking the passengers. Natan and Judka were forced off the train at the Mechelen station and were taken to the Dossin barracks. Father and son were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport VI on 29 August 1942. Transport VI halted at Kosel, a station before Auschwitz-Birkenau, where the able-bodied men were forced out of the carriages. Natan and Judka were amongst the workers sent to labour camps nearby. They performed forced labour in Ottmuth, Kleinmangersdorf and Babitz, before they were sent to Trzebinia where Judka perished on 29 December 1942. After working at the Szopienice labour camp, Natan was sent to Auschwitz in November 1943. There, the number 160242 was tattooed on his forearm. In December 1943, he was added to the Kommando responsible for clearing the ruins of the Warsaw ghetto, following the uprising of the Jewish residents there. In August 1944, Natan, emaciated and seriously ill, was “evacuated” to Dachau and its satellite camp Kaufering. On 2 May 1945, he was liberated by the American army during a death march leading him away from Dachau. On 23 May 1945, Natan was repatriated to Belgium where he was reunited with his mother Sura and sister Felicie. After the disappearance of Judka and Natan, both women had been hidden by the Scheepers-Hintgen family. Their son Jean Scheepers had been one of Natan’s best friends at the Berchem athenaeum. After his return Natan worked in the diamond industry. In 1950 he married Liliane alias Lili Steinfeld. The couple would have three children: Denise, José and Patricia (Patsi). Giving testimonies at schools as of 1989, Natan became more and more involved in spreading knowledge about the Holocaust. As a witness he fought against antisemitism and Holocaust denial. In 1991 he was one of the survivors who told their story in the Belgian documentary De Laatste Getuigen by Luckas Vander Taelen. As a member of the Association of Jewish Deportees in Belgium, Natan was one of the founders of the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance (JMDR) which opened its doors to the public in 1996 and of which Natan became president. For his efforts, he received the title of Mensch in 1998 and he was knighted by the Belgian king Albert II in 2005. In November 2012, the JMDR’s successor – Kazerne Dossin: Memorial, Museum and Research Centre on Holocaust and Human Rights – was inaugurated. However, Natan Ramet, who was the institution’s honorary president, did not live to see it. He passed away in Antwerp on 4 April 2012.
Archival History
This collection consists of original photos, documents, objects and printed materials donated to the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance, predecessor of Kazerne Dossin, by museum founder Natan Ramet between July 1994 and November 2010. Mr. Ramet inherited many of these items from members of his own family, but also donated items entrusted to him by other Holocaust survivors from Belgium.
Acquisition
Natan Ramet, 1994-2010
Scope and Content
This collection contains the following items: Documents: a pre-war Warsaw Diamond Exchange membership card issued to Judka Ramet ; an abstract from the Antwerp population register issued to Wolf alias Willem Klausner, 1939 ; a wartime ration card and ration stamps issued to Anna Stern ; a photocopy of an envelope used by Judka Ramet to hand over diamonds to the Diamantcontrole, 1941 ; a letter from the Association of Jews in Belgium – Special Aid to Mechelen regarding the payment of doctor Franz Parnes, 1944 ; a photocopy of a post-war permit issued by the mayor of Berchem, Antwerp, to Felicie Ramet, allowing her to move furniture from her former hiding place to her new residency, 1944 ; a provisional card for repatriated political prisoners enjoying immediate relief, issued to Meilech Konik, 1945 ; a repatriation transport coupon for camp survivor Natan Ramet, enabling him to return home by any means available to the repatriation services, 1945 ; a repatriation ID issued to camp survivor Natan Ramet at the liberated Dachau concentration camp, 1945 ; a form issued by the Belgian Ministry of Finance summoning repatriated survivors to report at a bank office in order to declare the sums they received for their repatriation, 1945 ; fragments of a testimony written by camp survivor Natan Ramet immediately after his repatriation (several pages are missing), 1945 ; a post-war report by Hertz (Ghert) Jospa entitled ‘La question Juive en Belgique’ on the situation of the Jewish community in Belgium before and during the war, 1945 ; a post-war letter from the Dutch Government Information Bureau in London to Dutch citizen Hattie Krijn in France, responding to her complaint regarding the lack of information on what was being done for Dutch Holocaust survivors in the Netherlands, 1945 ; a post-war letter from camp survivor Kurt Gotzl to fellow-survivor Natan Ramet, 1946 ; post-war membership cards of the Vereeniging van Joodsche Politieke Gevangenen issued to Natan Ramet and to Melech Konik ; a photocopy of a police report drafted by the Tienen police force regarding the body of Helene Zylberszac found next to the railway track in Tienen after the transit of transport XX from which Helene tried to escape ; a post-war declaration written by Germaine Hintgen (married Scheepers) regarding the hiding of Sura Polakiewicz and her daughter Felicie Ramet at the Scheepers-Hintgen family home in Berchem, 1956 ; a photocopy of a declaration signed by doctor L. De Tournay regarding the medical care given to Sura Polakiewicz while she was in hiding, 1960. Photos: pre-war, wartime and immediate post-war family photos of Natan Ramet, his sister Felicie Ramet and their parents Judka and Sura Ramet-Polakiewicz ; photos of members of the extended Ramet and Polakiewicz families, such as Nachman Ramet, Schulem Polakiewicz, Noech, Maurice and Alice Polakiewicz, Hersch, Chaim and Leopold Lazare Polakiewicz and Anna Avol ; photos of Ramet family friends such as Max and Nelly Zoukrowitch, and Isidore Slap ; photos of the extended Stainfeld (also Stainfeld or Sztejnfeld) family, including the Steinfeld-Stelman family, Icek and Laja Sztejnfeld-Sztejnfeld, and Mordka and Hella Stainfeld-Hillel with their children Elias and Charlotte Stainfeld and their granddaughter Anna Censer ; a studio portrait of Maurice and Elisabeth Olesinski-Blumenthal with their daughter Bethyne Olesinski, ca. 1928 ; a framed portrait of Leon alias Lon Landau, ca. 1940 ; a portrait of Alfred Weinstein in military uniform ; photos of German Wehrmacht soldiers and members of the Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend) in uniform ; a repatriation photo of resistance fighter Constant van de Weyer from Boortmeerbeek who hid Sacha Birnbaum, 1945 ; a post-war photo of Kurt Gotzl (also Götzl) ; a post-war picture of the front wing of the Dossin barracks, ca. 1955 ; photos taken during post-war commemorations (the annual pilgrimage) held at the Dossin barracks to honour the Jewish men, women and children deported from Belgium, 1960-1997 ; a portrait of doctor Josef Mengele with Elsa Gulipan Di Oliveira. Objects: a hat in grey and blue striped cloth as worn by inmates in concentration camps (original owner unknown) ; a yellow star of David worn by a Jewish inhabitant of Germany or Austria ; two parcel seals used in a Polish ghetto ; insignia worn by a member of the Jewish Ordnungsdienst (security service) in the ghetto of Sosnowicz, Poland ; an armband worn by a member of the Jewish Ordnungsdienst (security service) in the ghetto of Sosnowicz, Poland ; a concentration camp vest in grey and blue striped cloth worn by Natan Ramet during his time as a prisoner in Auschwitz-Birkenau ; two canes with the caricatured head of a Jewish religious man as a handle. Art: the drawing ‘Prelude’ by Natan Ramet, depicting a concentration camp inmate behind barbed wire, 1996. Newspapers and precious prints: the book ‘Die Protokolle der Weisen von Zion kritisch beleuchtet von S. Gegel’, 1924 ; a two million Reichsmark propaganda bill ; the booklet ‘Les Juifs’ illustrating the richness of Jewish cultural, social, economic and political life all over the world, 1933 ; one issue of the monthly propaganda magazine ‘Ontmaskeren – Nationaal-Solidaristisch Kampblad’, dedicated to unmasking bolshevism in service of international Jewish high finance ; one issue of ‘Vaderland en Arbeid - Kampblad der Nationaal-socialistische Vlaamsche Arbeiderspartij’ (NSVAP), 1939 ; the leaflet ‘Des Führers Kampf im Osten’, 1940 ; one issue of the Hebrew newspaper ‘OMER’, containing news on the progress of the fight against the Nazi campaign in Europe, 28 May 1940 ; two issues of the antisemitic magazine ‘Wereld-Dienst’, dedicated to illustrating freemasonry as a secret political weapon of Jewish-English imperialism and the Jewish development of power in England in the 20th century, 1940 and 1943 ; one issue of the antisemitic magazine ‘Volkswacht’, dedicated to ‘the protection of our people and national heritage against Jewry, Freemaconery and Bolsjewism’, 1941 ; the antisemitic pamphlet ‘Joden zijn ook Menschen!’ by Jef Van de Wiele, 1942 ; a poster from the Champigny-sur-Marne municipality in France, ordering all Jewish refugees to report at the town hall, 1942 ; booklet ‘De Duitschers stalen voor Miljarden Diamant te Antwerpen, tijdens de Bezettting’ by Sam Emmerik of Volksgazet in Antwerp, December 1944 ; booklet ‘Camps de concentration’ ; 22 issues of the patriotic weekly ‘Le Patriote illustré’ published in 1939 and in 1945 (not digitized) ; one issue of the Zionist magazine ‘État Juif’, 1946 ; the leaflet ‘Jewish Palestine fights back’, 1946 ; a post-war issue of the Yiddish illustrated newspaper ‘Unzer Wort’, 1946 (not digitized) ; 11 issues of the Hebrew ‘Jewish Soldiers’ Daily Newspaper’, 1946 ; the publication ‘Buchenwald’, 1960 ; a newspaper article about Hitler's crimes in Poland, mentioning the crimes committed by the Reich Army against the Jews at Zdunska-Wola and Chelmno, 1988 (not digitized) ; four propaganda posters (two not digitized) ; a bible ; a post-war map indicating all Nazi camps and murder sites within the Polish territory.
Accruals
No further accruals are to be expected.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
The following items in this collection have not been digitized: 22 issues of Le Patriote illustré (J000030 to J000050), one issue of Unzer Wort (J000070), the booklet entitled Buchenwald (T000163), two propaganda posters (T000167 and T000168).
Publication Note
VANDECANDELAERE Ronny, Natan Ramet: mens - kampnummer - getuige, Berchem, 2015.
VANDECANDELAERE Ronny, Natan Ramet. Rescape de la Shoah: homme - matricule - témoin, Bruxelles, 2023.
Subjects
- Repatriation
- Religious life
- Propaganda
- Perpetrators
- Nazi apparatus
- Migration
- Labour camps
- Industry and commerce
- Identification measures
- Holocaust survivors
- Hidden adults
- Ghettos
- France
- Forced labour
- Family life
- Economic measures
- Deportees
- Daily life
- Concentration camps
- Building
- Antisemitism
- Allied forces