Zeliesnikas-Wagman family

Leib (sometimes Leiba) alias Leon Zeliesnikas (also Zelieznikas) was born in Taurage, Lithuania, on 4 November 1904. On 10 December 1928 he arrived in Belgium on a tourist visa, having first lived in Tel Aviv, British mandate Palestine, for a few years. Leib, who was a trained leather worker, became a cement maker for the company ‘Solidilité belge’ in Lembeek, while living at Avenue Huart Hamoir 169 in Schaerbeek. In December 1929 he settled at Rue Otlet 9 in Anderlecht, likely because his fiancée lived there. Seamstress Rifka alias Regine Wagman (also Vagman) had been born in Pabianice, Poland, on 4 March 1896, and had arrived in Belgium in 1925, where she shared an apartment with her brother Ber Wagman and her sister Rachla Wagman. On 22 February 1930 Leib and Rifka married in Anderlecht. They settled at Rue du Houblon 23 in Brussels. Leib was employed as a factory worker by Syndicat Général Industriel in Vilvoorde, while Rifka, as a seamstress, specialized in stitching shopping bags. On 3 June 1930 their daughter Marie was born in Brussels. The following years the family changed addresses within the capital several times. In 1936 Leib lost his job due to a new Belgian law regarding the employment of foreign labourers. By that time the couple had taken in Rifka’s elderly widowed mother Tena Freiman. Although they received financial support from Rifka’s brother Moszek alias Moise Wagman who lived in Paris, France, their difficult situation deteriorated further in 1937. When Leib opened a knitwear store at Rue Haute 309 in Brussels, the Belgian authorities ordered his removal from Belgium since he didn’t have a valid work permit. Luckily, a lawyer successfully pled his case and, in July 1937, Leib received a Belgian residence permit and a work permit. When Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940 the Zeliesnikas-Wagman family lived at Rue Sergeant De Bruyne 15 in Anderlecht. The following years Leib and Rifka were forced to obey the anti-Jewish decrees. They registered in the municipal Jewish register of Anderlecht in January 1941 and became members of the Association of Jews in Belgium in Spring 1942. When deportations started in August 1942, Leib and Rifka placed their daughter Marie in hiding in Jemappes, while they themselves hid at the home of one of their neighbours in Anderlecht. Only grandmother Tena Freiman remained at Rue Sergeant De Bruyne, convinced that the Nazis would not dare to arrest an elderly, sick woman. However, on 25 September 1942 the apartment was raided. Tena was arrested and was deported from the Dossin barracks to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport XI on 26 September 1942. 76 years old, Tena was murdered upon arrival. Leib and Rifka were arrested only a few days later, on 30 September 1942. They were taken to the Dossin barracks and were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport XII on 10 October 1942. While detained at the Dossin barracks, they succeeded in sending a letter to the family that hid their daughter Marie. Leib and Rifka were also able to throw a postcard out of the train to Auschwitz. Neither of them survived. After her parents’ deportation Marie was hidden at the home of her classmate Denise Hougardy for a few months. When money fell short, she was picked up by Leonie De Win and her daughter Mariette De Win, who owned the house at Rue Sergeant De Bruyne where the Zeliesnikas-Wagman family had lived. Leonie placed Marie in hiding at the home of Leonie’s relatives Petrus and Isabella Annaert in Groot-Bijgaarden where she was presented to the neighbours as a distant relative. In March 1944 a raid took place in Groot-Bijgaarden upon which Leonie transferred Marie to the home of family friends in Brussels where the girl remained until Liberation. Marie Zeliesnikas lived at the home of Leonie De Win and her husband Jean until December 1945 when it became clear that her parents would never return from Auschwitz. Marie’s aunt Fajga Rajzel Wagman, her uncle Szlama Gelbart and their son Karl alias Charles, had also been arrested and had been deported from the Dossin barracks to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport XVIII on 15 January 1943. All three were murdered, as was her uncle by marriage Abram Hendlisz who had been deported from the Drancy camp near Paris, France, to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport 24. His wife Rachla Wagman and their son Maurice Hendlisz did survive the war in France and returned to Belgium where Marie’s paternal uncle Ber Wagman and his family had also survived the war. In 1946 Marie moved in with the family of her uncle Moszek alias Moise Wagman who had survived the war in France and who lived there. Marie married and built a family. In 2008 her rescuers received the title Righteous amongst the Nations. Marie Zeliesnikas passed away on 24 June 2021.

On 10 March 2023 Laurence and Alain Kleinberger, grandchildren of Leib Zeliesnikas and Rifka Wagman, donated the original documents as well as digital copies of the photos in this collection to Kazerne Dossin. The letter and postcard were found by the donors around the time of passing of their mother Marie Zeliesnikas who never showed them to anyone during her lifetime.

Laurence and Alain Kleinberger, 2023