Fernande Krol. Collection

Fernande Krol was born on 31 October 1928 in Etterbeek, Belgium, as the daughter of Abe Krol (born on 30 March 1896 in Radom, Poland) and Ryfka Goldschmidt (born 29 May 1901 in Radom). Fernande had two older sisters: Sara Necha Krol, born on 3 May 1920 in Radom, and Chana Anna Krol born on 6 November 1923 in Radom. At the end of 1940, Fernande’s eldest sister Sara Necha Krol married Polish tailor Isidore Schwarz (born on 13 October 1920 in Brussels). During the war, Fernande, her parents and her sister Anna lived at Rue du Lavoir 39 in Brussels. They were forced to obey the anti-Jewish decrees. Fernande’s parents and sister registered in the municipal Jewish register in December 1940 and, in 1942, the family became members of the Association of Jews in Belgium. Shortly after Fernande’s fifteenth birthday on 31 October 1943, she too reported at the Brussels municipality where she was registered in the Jewish register. Shortly after, Fernande, her parents and sisters found a hiding place in Etterbeek, and Fernande became Fernande Van Hout. When their hideout became too dangerous, they relocated to an attic at Chaussée de Wavre in the same municipality. Their last hiding place was at Rue Pierre Broodcoorens 31 in La Hulpe. In May 1944, Fernande, her parents and both sisters were denounced. The five of them were arrested in La Hulpe on 27 May 1944 and were taken to the SS-Sammellager Mecheln (Dossin barracks). There, Fernande’s eldest sister Sara Necha Krol was reunited with her husband Isidore Schwarz. Isidore was working at the barracks as a tailor, because of which Sara was allowed to stay in Mechelen, where she would remain until Mechelen was liberated on 4 September 1944. Fernande, her parents and her sister Chana Anna were deported from the Dossin barracks to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport XXVI on 31 July 1944. Upon arrival, Fernande and her sister Chana were selected as forced labourers. The number A24084 was tattooed on Fernande’s arm. Chana became prisoner A24085. In November 1944, the sisters were transferred to Bergen-Belsen, in January 1945 to Buchenwald and then to Aschersleben, where they were liberated by the American army. Both sisters were repatriated to Belgium on 22 May 1945, where they were reunited with their eldest sister Sara Necha and their brother-in-law Isidore Schwarz. Fernande’s parents Abe Krol and Ryfka Goldschmidt did not survive deportation. In 1949 Fernande Krol married camp survivor Nuchim Fessel (born on 19 December 1920 in Sambor, Poland). The couple remained in Brussels and had two children.

On 26 January 1997, Fernande Krol kindly donated the identity card and a reproduction of the photo in this collection to the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance, predecessor of Kazerne Dossin. The identity card had been confiscated when Fernande Krol was interned at the SS-Sammellager Mecheln (Dossin barracks) in 1944, and remained part of the camp archive (relics collection catalogued as KD_00005) until the Belgian Ministry of Social Affairs returned it to Fernande Krol in 1996.

Fernande Krol, 1997