Andriesse-van der Wijk family. Collection

Elisabeth alias Liesje Andriesse was born on 5 July 1908 in Vlissingen, the Netherlands, as the eldest child of Julius Andriesse (born on 30 June 1875 in Vlissingen) and Ella van der Wijk (born on 19 June 1879 in Assen, the Netherlands). Elisabeth had a younger brother called Louis alias Lou Andriesse who was born on 5 March 1913. Elisabeth's father Julius owned the Central Clothing Warehouse [Centraal Kledingmagazijn] in Vlissingen where all kinds of textiles and clothes were made and sold. The Andriesse family was well-to-do and followed Jewish traditions, but was not very religious. In 1923, Elisabeth moved from Vlissingen to Belgium with her parents and brother. There, father Julius became inspector of the depots of margarine factory Van den Bergh Ltd (later Unilever), which was owned by Simon van den Bergh, a cousin of Julius’ mother. The Andriesse family first lived in Ghent before settling, in October 1928, in Villa Ella, located at Woudlaan in Wilrijk, where they became part of the Antwerp bourgeoisie. Elisabeth’s brother Lou attended classes at the Antwerp Lyceum and then became a sales representative for the Van den Bergh butter empire. Through a friend, Elisabeth was introduced to Abraham Pinkas alias Pinkus Spira, a Jewish diamond worker born on 21 May 1903 in Krakow, Poland. Although Pinkas was born a Polish citizen, the Polish government had taken away his nationality in 1930 when Pinkas refused to perform his military service in Poland. Elisabeth and Pinkas married at Antwerp city hall on 3 May 1931 and celebrated their religious wedding at the synagogue at Bouwmeesterstraat in Antwerp on 26 May 1931. As a result of her marriage to Pinkas, Elisabeth lost her Dutch nationality and also became stateless. Elisabeth and Pinkas settled at Gitschotellei 272. Elisabeth's parents and brother subsequently moved from Wilrijk to Gitschotellei to live closer to Elisabeth. On 6 September 1937, Elisabeth and Pinkas’ only child was born, a son named Jean who was affectionately called Johnny. On 10 May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded Belgium. Two days later, the entire Andriesse family fled via Diksmuide and De Panne to the French border. As Dutch citizens, Elisabeth’s parents Julius and Ella, and her brother Lou were allowed to travel on, but Elisabeth, Pinkas and Johnny were stopped as they were stateless and thus did not hold the necessary papers. On 18 August 1940 Julius, Ella and Lou would arrive in Portugal, having travelled via Paris, Toulouse, Marseille and Barcelona, and on 1 December 1940 they sailed to the Dutch East Indies. In the summer of 1942 they were interned in Japanese-run internment camps, but all three survived and were reunited in 1945. After separating from her beloved parents and brother at the French border crossing, Elisabeth, her husband Pinkas and their son Johnny returned to Antwerp. In September 1940, they moved in with Felicya Spira, Pinkus’ sister, who lived at Herculesstraat 1 in Antwerp. From the end of October 1940, anti-Jewish laws were gradually introduced, which Elisabeth and her family also had to comply with. Thus, on 18 December 1940, Pinkas registered himself, Elisabeth and Johnny in the municipal Jewish register. From Antwerp, Elisabeth continued to exchange letters and postcards with her parents and brother in the Dutch East Indies, with her aunts Rosa van der Wijk (married Spanjaard) and Adèle Andriesse (married Hijman) in the Netherlands, her uncle Arthur van der Wijk in England and her uncle Hugo Andriesse in the United States. At the end of September 1941, Elisabeth, Pinkas and Johnny fled to Nice, France. Shortly afterwards they were forced to move to Nîmes before settling in Alès, France. Even from there, Elisabeth continued her correspondence with her globally dispersed relatives. Just when Elisabeth and Pinkas had received the necessary papers to leave for Cuba in the spring of 1942, the borders were closed. Meanwhile, more and more family members were being rounded up. Elisabeth’s aunt Rosa van der Wijk (married Spanjaard), Rosa’s daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren would be deported from the Netherlands, as well as Elisabeth’s other aunt Adèle Andriesse (married Hijman) and her husband. Elisabeth's sister-in-law Felicya Spira and her husband Israel Frank, who had presumably travelled with Elisabeth and Pinkas to France, were also rounded up and were deported from Drancy to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport 30 on 9 September 1942. None of the deported relatives would survive. In late October 1942, Pinkas Spira and a small group of other Jewish refugees managed to cross the Pyrenees and reach Spain. Just across the border, they were arrested and Pinkas was interned in the Miranda de Ebro camp. Elisabeth and Johnny, left behind in Alès, France, waited in vain for news. Elisabeth then made a first attempt to reach Spain, which failed. However, at the end of 1943, when living in Barcelona, Spain, Pinkas met the human trafficker Antoni Puigdellivol. Puigdellivol’s network attempted to smuggle Elisabeth and Johnny via Toulouse and Perpignan to Spain, but the small group was arrested in Bourg-Madame, just before the Spanish border. Elisabeth and Johnny were transferred via the citadel of Perpignan to the Drancy camp near Paris, from where they were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport 76 on 30 June 1944. Both were probably murdered upon arrival. In February 1946, Elisabeth's parents Julius and Ella and her brother Lou returned to Europe from the Dutch East Indies. They learned of the deportation and murder of numerous family members. Son-in-law Pinkas Spira had to bring them the sad news of Elisabeth and Johnny's fate. None of them ever overcame the loss. Elisabeth's husband Pinkas remarried and had a daughter, but passed away in 1949. Elisabeth’s mother Ella van der Wijk died in 1959 and her father Julius Andriesse in 1963. Elisabeth's brother Lou married widow Paule Renard-Marneffe (code name Solange), who, during the war, had been part of the Jewish Defence Committee that managed to hide over 2000 Jewish children in Belgium. Among other things, she was recognised as Righteous Among the Nations. Lou regarded her children as his own. He passed away in 1999.

The photos and documents in this collection were created by various members of the extended Andriesse-van der Wijk family. After Liberation Louis alias Lou Andriesse collected the documents and photos and kept them safe as a tribute to his murdered sister Elisabeth Andriesse and to all their other relatives. Upon Lou’s passing in 1999 the items were saved by his widow Paule Renard-Marneffe and by her daughter and son-in-law Walter and Martine De Schampheleire-Marneffe. In 2019 the family kindly permitted Kazerne Dossin to digitise the items from the collection which directly referred to Lou’s deported sister Elisabeth Andriesse. A copy of these images was made available to Ingrid Vander Veken, the author working on a book on Elisabeth's story, which was published in March 2023. On 29 October 2023 the Marneffe family kindly donated all original items regarding the Andriesse-van der Wijk family to Kazerne Dossin.

Walter and Martine De Schampheleire-Marneffe, 2019 and 2023