Pilcer-Jama family. Collection

Eliasz Pilzer (also Pilcer) was born in Dzialoszyce, Poland in 1864. He became a leather retailer and, in 1888, he married Hena Jama, who had been born in Dzialoszyce in 1866. In September 1925, Eliasz and Hena Pilzer-Jama emigrated to Belgium, with their daughter Salomea Sara Pilcer (born on 26 September 1905 in Bielany, Poland). Their sons Jacob Pilzer (born on 16 December 1890 in Przegorzaly, Poland), Abraham Pilcer (born on 21 April 1902 in Bielany) and Jules Pilzer (born on 22 May 1909 in Bielany) had preceded them. All three men worked in the diamond industry in Antwerp. After their arrival in 1925, Eliasz, Hena and their children Abraham, Salomea Sara and Jules settled at Lamorinierestraat 106 in Antwerp. The family moved to Kroonstraat 214 in 1930. On 22 July 1930, Salomea Sara Pilcer married Polish diamond cutter Jozef Bernard Suskind (born in Wisnicz, Poland, on 17 April 1906), while, on 6 December 1932, Abraham Pilcer married Bronislawa Buttner (born on 21 March 1911 in Podgorze, Poland). On 16 April 1936, Eliasz Pilzer passed away in Borgerhout. Following her husband’s death, Hena moved to Isabellalei 1. Hena’s son Jules, her daughter and son-in-law Salomea Sara and Jozef Baruch, and her son and daughter-in-law Abraham and Bronislawa resided at the same address. On 24 April 1937, Bronislawa gave birth to a daughter named Lucette Pilcer. When Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940, Hena still resided at Isabellalei 1 with Jules, Salomea Sara and Jozef Baruch, while Abraham and his family were living at Lange Leemstraat 144. The whereabouts of Jacob Pilzer are unknown. As of late 1940, Hena and her remaining children had to obey a growing number of anti-Jewish decrees. They registered in the municipal Jewish register at the end of 1940 and became members of the Association of Jews in Belgium in Spring 1942. On 25 March 1941, Hena’s son Jules Pilzer married Belgian-Jewish Frieda Piepsz (born on 14 January 1915 in Antwerp). The newlyweds then moved to Lange Van Ruusbroecstraat 8 in Antwerp. In July 1942, Jewish men were arrested and sent to Northern France to work at the constructions sites of Organisation Todt, the German construction company building the Atlantic Wall. Jules Pilzer tried to avoid arrest by moving to Charleroi where he worked in the war industry. Nonetheless, he was arrested and was taken to the SS-Sammellager Mecheln (Dossin barracks) on 26 September 1942, where his name was added to the deportation list of transport XII. Jules’ mother Hena Jama arrived in the camp on 5 October 1942. Both were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport XII on 10 October 1942 and were murdered. Jules wife Frieda Piepsz was deported from the Dossin barracks to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport XVI on 31 October 1942 and was also killed. The only deported family member to survive was Hena Jama’s son-in-law Jozef Baruch Suskind. He had been sent to the Les Mazures labour camp in the French Ardennes on 18 July 1942. On 23 October 1942, Jozef was transferred from the labour camp to the Dossin barracks. He was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport XV on 24 October 1942. Joseph survived deportation and was repatriated to Belgium in 1945, where he was reunited with his wife Salomea Sara Pilcer, his brother-in-law Abraham Pilcer, Abraham’s wife Bronislawa and Abraham’s daughter Lucette.

On 21 July 1997, Lucette Pilcer, granddaughter of Hena Pilcer-Jama, kindly donated reproductions of two photos to the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance, predecessor of Kazerne Dossin.

Lucette Pilcer, 1997