Estera Laja Rozenberg. Collection

Estera Laja Rozenberg, commonly referred to as Ida Rozenberg, was born in Lodz, Poland, on 7 May 1925 as the daughter of Moszek Icek Rozenberg and Malka Kasza. The family moved to Belgium at the end of 1929 and settled in Brussels, where Ida’s younger brother Samuel was born on 9 January 1935. When Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940 Ida still went to school. At the time, she and her family were living at Rue de Flandre 137 in Brussels, but in August 1940 they moved to Rue de Ribaucourt 84 in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean. During the war, Ida and her family obeyed the anti-Jewish decrees. They registered in the municipal Jewish register of Brussels at the end of 1940 and became members of the Association of Jews in Belgium in the Spring of 1942. Working night shifts as a coal miner, Ida’s father Moszek obtained permission to not wear the yellow star and to be outside during curfew. At the end of July 1942 Ida received an Arbeitseinsatzbefehl (work order). She reported for forced labour at the Dossin barracks in Mechelen and was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau on 4 August 1942 via transport I. Ida was allegedly last seen in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. She was never repatriated to Belgium. Ida’s parents and brother survived the war in Belgium.

On 31 March 2005 Samuel Rozenberg, brother of Estera Laja alias Ida Rozenberg, kindly permitted the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance, predecessor of Kazerne Dossin, to digitise the two photos in this collection.

Samuel Rozenberg, 2005