De Ceulaer-Margulies family. Collection

Gilbert De Ceulaer was born in May 1942 as the son of Joseph De Ceulaer, a Belgian salesman, and Jenta Margulies, a Jewish nurse born in Struszow, Poland. She had fled from Vienna, Austria, to Belgium in April 1939, together with her first husband, Samuel Bau, and their son Georg Bau, born in Vienna in 1937. When Samuel Bau passed away in Belgium in 1941, Jenta Margulies married her second husband Joseph De Ceulaer on 28 March 1942. When Jenta Margulies was arrested a first time in August 1942, she was released because she had a baby, Gilbert. However, on 15 January 1943, the De Ceulaer home at Langstraat 21 in Borgerhout was raided and Joseph De Ceulaer, Jenta Margulies and her son Georg Bau were arrested. Jenta and Georg were subsequently taken to the Dossin barracks. Neither survived deportation via transport XX. Joseph De Ceulaer was detained at the prison at Begijnenstraat in Antwerp until March 1943. He perished in Borgerhout under circumstances unknown to us at the end of August 1943. Gilbert De Ceulaer was saved by his half-brother Frans De Ceulaer, a son from Joseph’s first marriage, and his wife Van den Eynde who pretended to be Gilbert's mother to deceive the Nazis. After the war, France and his wife adopted Gilbert and raised him. Gilbert De Ceulaer married and became a doctor and a radiologist.

The photos are part of Gilbert De Ceulaer’s private collection. Kazerne Dossin received permission to digitise both photos in 2015.

Gilbert De Ceulaer, 2015