De Vleeshouwer-Obbels family. Collection

Petrus Johannes alias Jan De Vleeshouwer was born on 19 July 1901 in Grobbendonk, Belgium. He married Leonie Obbels, born in Pulle, Belgium, on 1st August 1897. Jan was the verger and organist of Grobbendonk. Together, Jan and Leonie had two children: Jozef De Vleeshouwer and Maria De Vleeshouwer. The family lived at Kiezelweg 62 (today Quinten Matsyslaan) in Grobbendonk. During the Second World War the De Vleeshouwer-Obbels family hid several Jews in their family home: Irene Rozett and her daughter Eva Berkovic, Paul Deutsch and his three children Jozua, Elsa Maria and Frederica Deutsch, the elderly widow Mrs. Mankovsky (presumably Kreindel Weinsberg) and an unidentified mother with a young child who had to leave quickly as the child cried too much and Leonie was afraid that all of them would be discovered. Jan and Leonie also took care of Irene Rozett’s brothers Eugene and Andor Rozett after they escaped from transport XVI on their way from the Organisation Todt labour camps in Northern France to Auschwitz-Birkenau on 31 October 1942. In July 1944 Nazi representatives visited the De Vleeshouwer-Obbels family home for the first time. Only Leonie and Mrs. Makovsky were there, and Leonie was able to give an explanation for Mrs. Makovsky presence. However, the De Vleeshouwer-Obbels family was betrayed by local collaborators and on 4 August 1944 their home was raided again. Although their protégés were not apprehended, Jan and Leonie were arrested on the spot. Both were deported. Jan De Vleeshouwer perished in the Neuengamme concentration camp on 12 January 1945. Leonie survived the Shönewiese, Oranienburg and Ravensbruck concentration camps. She was repatriated to Belgium in 1945 and received the title of political prisoner post-war. Leonie Obbels passed away in Grobbendonk on 18 October 1963.

On 29 May 2000 the Eggers-De Vleeshouwer family kindly donated the original object in this collection to the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance, predecessor of Kazerne Dossin. On 7 November 2001, the donors added the photo to the collection.

Eggers-De Vleeshouwer family, 2000-2001