Reig-Landskroner family. Collection

Leib alias Leon Reig (also Raig) was born in Kalusz, Poland, on 28 May 1910, as the son of Hersch Reig and Blima Alter. In March 1930, he clandestinely entered Belgium. Leib first worked at the World Fair in Antwerp, but, in 1934, he moved to Brussels, where he found employment in a hotel. In 1938 Leib relocated to Van Leriusstraat 18 in Antwerp and he became a diamond cutter. In September 1939 he settled at Rue Botanique 45 in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, where he still resided when Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940. On 8 April 1942, Leib married Berta Landskroner who had been born in Vienna, Austria on 4 March 1922 as the daughter of Jacob Landskroner and Pauline Schwarz. Berta and her parents had fled from Austria to Belgium in March 1939, where they joined Berta’s sister Alice who had moved to Belgium the previous year. Berta and her parents settled at Rue Royale-Sainte-Marie 134 in Schaerbeek. From August until October 1939 the family was held at the Marneffe refugee center, before being allowed to settle at Rue Linné 27 in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, where Berta found employment as a seamstress. At the outbreak of war the family lived at Rue des Plantes 92 in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode. After their marriage on 8 April 1942, Leib and Berta continued to live in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode. They were arrested on 10 March 1943, and were taken to the SS-Sammellager Mecheln (Dossin Barracks) the next day. Deported via transport XX on 19 April 1943, Leib and Berta were both selected for labour upon arrival. The number 117661 was tattooed on Leib’s arm, after which he was sent to work in Buna-Monowitz. On 18 January 1945, he was part of a death march to Gleiwitz, from where he was transported in an open rail car to Kamin. On January 25 or 26, Leib escaped with three fellow prisoners and hid on the property of a Polish farmer until the arrival of the Red Army. Leib was repatriated to Belgium on 13 June 1945. Upon arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the number 42665 was tattooed on Berta’s arm. She then became part of the group of women from Transport XX who were not put to work but who were used as human guinea pigs in Block X, where SS doctor Karl Clauberg performed medical experiments on them. Berta was ‘evacuated’ from Auschwitz in January 1945 and was carried in an open truck to Ravensbrück. Her frozen toes had to be amputated upon arrival there. Berta was liberated by the American army, and was repatriated to Vienna. On 12 October 1945, Berta and Leib were reunited in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode. The couple would have a daughter named Béatrice, who was born on 11 December 1949. Leib (Leon) Reig passed away on 12 August 1985 in Brussels, Berta Landskroner on 15 January 1991.

On 6 March 1995, Beatrice Reig donated reproductions of two photos (P000771 and P000772) from her family archive to the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance (JMDR), predecessor of Kazerne Dossin. On 23 September 1997, she added a photocopy of a testimony written by her mother Berta Landskroner (A001186) to the collection. On 22 October 2008, Beatrice Reig’s daughter Noemie Rubinsztejn expanded the collection by donating reproductions of one document (A010606) and five photos (P003574 to P003578) to the JMDR. On 8 January 2009, Noemie added a digital copy of another seven documents (A010608 to A010614) to her family collection.

Béatrice Reig-Rubinsztejn and her daughter Noemie Rubinsztejn, 1995-2009