Lewkowicz-Bot family. Collection

Simon Lewkowicz was born in Raczki, Poland, in 1896 as the son of Emmanuel Lewkowicz and Chaja Sadkowski. He became a tailor. In 1918 he married Chana Guittel Bot in Raczna, Poland. Chana had been born on 14 January 1895 in Przedborz, Poland. Their eldest child, a daughter named Chaja Frymeta alias Claire, was born in Przedborz on 10 February 1919. Simon and Chana then relocated to Paris, France, where a second daughter named Henriette Berthe alias Betty was born on 2 June 1926. In June 1929, the family emigrated to Belgium, settling at Rue de l’Economie 6 in Brussels where Simon’s parents were also living. Simon and his father Emmanuel subsequently started a tailoring business together. In Brussels, Chana gave birth to her two youngest children: a son named Izak Maurice who was born on 14 July 1929, and a third daughter named Rachel who was born on 13 September 1931. Shortly after Rachel’s birth, the family moved to Rue Gheude 52 in Anderlecht, and, in 1937, to Rue du Compas 1a. A few weeks before the invasion of Belgium by Nazi-Germany, eldest daughter Chaja Frymeta Lewkowicz married Abraham Rabinovitsj (born on 27 May 1914 in Antwerp, Belgium). Since Abraham held Belgian nationality, Chaja Frymeta now also became a Belgian citizen. Upon the invasion, Simon, Chana and their children were forced to obey the anti-Jewish decrees. They registered in the municipal Jewish register in early January 1941, after which eldest daughter Chaja Frymeta and her husband Abraham Rabinovitsj moved out of the Lewkowicz-Bot family home and relocated to Avenue Clemenceau 75 in Anderlecht. In late July 1942, Simon, Chana and their son Izak Maurice received an Arbeitseinsatzbefehl, a letter ordering them to report for labour. Simon Lewkowicz was registered at the SS-Sammellager Mecheln (Dossin barracks) on 1 August 1942. He was in the company of his youngest daughter Rachel who had not received a convocation. The next day, on 2 August 1942, Chana Guittel Bot joined her husband and daughter at the barracks, followed by son Izak Maurice Lewkowicz on 3 August 1942. All four of them were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport II on 11 August 1942 and were murdered. From late 1943 onwards, Simon and Chana’s eldest daughter Chaja Frymeta and her husband Abraham Rabinovitsj – who had until then been protected by their Belgian citizenship – went into hiding in Uccle, where Chaja Frymeta gave birth to their daughter Emmanuella Gloria Rabinovitsj on 15 March 1944. All three of them survived the war in hiding. After Liberation, the couple had two more children. Simon and Chana’s second daughter Betty was first hidden by count and countess Victor and Christiane d'Ansembourg at the Château d'Assenois in Léglise, as was Betty’s relative Hanna Szneer. Later on during the war, Betty was transferred to the Institut Notre Dame de la Compassion in Jolimont. She survived the war in hiding and built a family of her own after the war. The count and countess d’Ansembourg received the title of Righteous amongst the Nations in 2010.

On 28 November 1996, Chaja Frymeta Lewkowicz-Rabinovitsj, eldest daughter of Simon and Chana Guittel Lewkowicz-Bot, kindly donated a photocopy of a postcard to the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance, predecessor of Kazerne Dossin. On 18 August 1997, she added a reproduction of a photo to this collection.

Chaja Frymeta Lewkowicz-Rabinovitsj, 1996