Kligsberg family. Collection

Szlama alias Salomon Kligsberg was born in Warsaw, Poland, on 6 January 1892. He became a glove maker and married Tauba Davidson, who was born in Warsaw on 30 September 1893. Their three children were all born in Warsaw: Wolf Josef on 19 December 1913, Sura Rywka alias Regine on 17 September 1917 and Szaja alias Charles on 6 January 1924. In 1926 the Kligsberg family emigrated to Belgium. When Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940 the Kligsberg family lived in Brussels. They were subsequently forced to obey the anti-Jewish decrees. On 10 December 1940 they registered in the municipal Jewish register of Saint-Gilles, Brussels, where they resided at Avenue du Roi 62. On 19 November 1941 wife and mother Tauba Davidson passed away in Saint-Gilles. In Spring 1942 Szlama and his three children became members of the Brussels branch of the Association of Jews in Belgium. In June 1942 the Nazis distributed work orders for unemployed Jews to be sent off to forced labour camps run by Organisation Todt in Northern France. Wolf and Szaja Kligsberg tried to avoid being summoned by moving to Charleroi and finding employment there. They returned to Brussels in late July 1942, upon which the complete Kligsberg family relocated to Cugnon, a small village in the Ardennes near Bouillon and the Belgian-French border. In April 1943, fearing betrayal, they moved to Felenne where they received help from Ernest Gehenot. Ernest was born in Felenne but lived in Namur where he worked for the hiding network run by abbé Joseph André. Ernest and his sister-in-law Josephine provided the Kligsberg family with food stamps and visited them regularly to check on their morale. The Kligsberg family was also aided by priest in Felenne, father Lucien Rausch, who worked for the Comité de Défense des Juifs [Jewish Defence Committee]. Wolf Josef Kligsberg assisted the CDJ and father Rausch in finding hiding places and coordinating the placement of Jewish children in the area. The Kligsberg family survived the war in Felenne. In 1978 Ernest and Josephine Gehenot were recognized as Righteous amongst the Nations. Father Lucien Rausch received the title in 1981.

On 24 August 1998, Mister and Misses Fabry kindly donated reproductions of three photos to the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance, predecessor of Kazerne Dossin.

Mister and Misses Fabry, 1998