Ettinger-Scheiner family. Collection

Markus Ettinger was born in Dubiecko, Poland, on 15 October 1907. He became a leather goods dealer and, in July 1929, he emigrated to Belgium. Markus settled in Antwerp, where he worked in the diamond industry, first as a cutter and later as a trader. On 6 March 1934 he married Cznana or Chana (Anna) Scheiner who had been born in Radymno, Poland, on 23 November 1910. Cznana had grown up in Zurich, Switzerland, and travelled to Belgium for the wedding. Markus and Cznana settled at Langstraat 63 in Borgerhout. Together, they had two children: a daughter named Dora, born on 19 February 1935, and a son named Mozes, born on 7 January 1937. When Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940, the Ettinger-Scheiner family lived at Schoenstraat 22 in Borgerhout. On 12 May 1940, father Markus Ettinger was able to flee Antwerp. He settled in Lourdes, France, and went into hiding there after a failed attempt to cross into Switzerland. In February 1944, Markus received an attestation issued by the consulate of El Salvador in Geneva, Switzerland, proving his Salvadorian citizenship. As Latin-American citizens Markus, his wife and their children would be protected against deportation. Such falsified certificates were distributed in large numbers by George Mandel-Mantello, First Secretary of the Salvadoran Consulate in Switzerland, who was recognized as Righteous amongst the Nations in 2010. After Markus’ departure from Antwerp in May 1940, his wife Cznana was forced to obey a growing number of anti-Jewish decrees installed in Belgium. She had to register herself and her children in the municipal Jewish register at the end of 1940, and had to become a member of the Association of Jews in Belgium in April 1942. In June 1942, Cznana purchased the yellow star of David for herself and her daughter Dora, her son Mozes being too young to wear it. Cznana and her children were arrested in late 1942 and were registered at the SS-Sammellager Mecheln (Dossin barracks) on 7 December 1942. They were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport XVIII on 15 January 1943. All three were murdered. Their husband and father Markus Ettinger survived the war in France and returned to Antwerp in August 1945.

On 21 July 1997, Tscherna Sime Scheiner-Weber, sister of Cznana (Chana) Scheiner-Ettinger, kindly donated the original items in this collection to the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance, predecessor of Kazerne Dossin. It is likely that Tscherna took the items with her when she fled to Switzerland in October 1942.

Tscherna Sime Scheiner-Weber, 1997