Arnold Adell. Collection

Arnold Adell was born on 8 August 1922 in Deurne, Belgium, as the son of François Adell (born on 20 June 1877 in Jodoigne, Belgium) and Rosa Adell (born in 1887 in Jodoigne). Arnold’s family were Roma, who travelled through Europe. In the second half of the 1930s the Adell family remained in the Antwerp area, changing addresses frequently. In 1939 Arnold and his father lived in a caravan at Duinstraat 102 in Antwerp. Arnold earned a living as a musician, while his father repaired violins. When Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940, Arnold and François fled to France, only to return to Antwerp by the end of June. In October 1940, father and son relocated from Lange Koepoortstraat 40 in Antwerp to Rue de la Samaritaine 41 in Brussels. In June 1941, Arnold Adell vanished from the Belgian records. It is possible that he was working as a forced labourer for Reichsbahn Reinland-Köln, but it is unclear how he ended up in Germany. In 1943, Arnold was caught in the Netherlands, after which the Dutch police took him to the Belgian border, from where Belgian police officers took him to France on 16 September 1943. At an unknown date, Arnold Adell entered the Saint-Gilles prison in Brussels. He was sent to the SS-Sammellager Mecheln (Dossin barracks) on 3 December 1943, from where he was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport Z (‘Zigeuner’) on 15 January 1944. Upon arrival, the number Z9220 was tattooed on Arnold Adell’s arm. According to the Auschwitz Sterbebücher, Arnold Adell died in Auschwitz on 7 July 1944. However, Arnold Adell did survive and was repatriated to Belgium in 1945. After the war he married. Arnold Adell passed away in 1987.

On 28 March 2003, Joseph Schneberger kindly permitted the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance, predecessor of Kazerne Dossin, to digitise the items in this collection. His connection to Arnold Adell is unknown.

Joseph Schneberger, 2003