Madeleine Level-Sulzberger. Collection

Madeleine Sulzberger was born on 21 January 1907 in Brussels as Madeleine Level. She was the daughter of French immigrants, and acquired Belgian nationality in 1926. She was a professor in languages. Madeleine was married to Max Raymond Sulzberger, a librarian born on February 3 1901 in Brussels. Madeleine Level was registered as Jewish. At Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen, Madeleine did a package registration on July 24th 1944 in which she asked Marie-José Smets and Geneviève Hankar to send her clothing articles and alimentary products. Since it was only allowed to address one person, she combined the names of her two (presumed) friends, in order to reach them both. Max and Madeleine were eventually both on transport XXVI registered under the numbers 434 and 435. Transport XXVI left for Auschwitz-Birkenau on 31 July 1944. It was the last transport leaving Mechelen, with 563 deportees.

This form was found in the archive of Marie-José Smets, mother of Danièle Boüüaert. Smets was born in 1921 and passed away in 2021. She studied German languages at the Université Catholique de Louvain during the German Occupation. The Université Libre de Bruxelles, where she started her studies, was closed during the Occupation. Marie José Smets hid Jewish families during the war and was active in the Freemasonry where she established various Lodges. Geneviève Hankar belonged to a famous and rich family. Smets and Hankar were the (presumed) friends of Madeleine Level Sulzberger. In February 2022, Danièle Boüüaert kindly permitted Kazerne Dossin to digitise this form and put it in the archive.

Danièle Boüüaert