Bornstein family. Collection

The Bornstein family consisted of different family members living in Antwerp, Belgium. Herman / Herschel Bornstein, the eldest, was born on 10 December 1890 in Ladomirova, Czechoslovakia. He came to Belgium in 1928, where he started work as a poulterer opening a kosher poultry shop. Herman Bornstein was married to Betty / Basha Schachner, born on 17 January 1896 also in in Ladomirova. They lived together in Belgium at Van der Meydenstraat 44 and later at Apollostraat 31 in Antwerp. Together Herman Bornstein and Betty Schachner had five children: Franciska / Fanny, born on 3 June 1915, Berta, born on 8 February 1919, Samuel, born on 18 August 1921, Rezi, born on 13 June 1924, and Lora / Sara, born on 9 April 1928. In 1936, Franciska Bornstein married fur worker Abraham Kampf, born on 6 May 1910 in Sczucin, Poland. They lived together at Duivelshofstraat 10. Together they had a son named Arthur / Aaron Kampf, born on 23 September 1927 in Antwerp. On 14 August 1942, Abraham Kampf was sent from Antwerp to Organisation Todt labour camps Boulogne Saint-Martin and Isques in Northern France to work on the Atlantikwall for the firms Hermecke and also Leonhard Hanbuch & Sohne. On 29 October 1942 he and other forced labourers were put on deportation lists and transported by train to Mechelen from where this Transport XVII continued on 31 October 1942 towards Auschwitz-Birkenau where he received the number 72610 on his arm. On 2 January 1943 he was murdered in Auschwitz. By the time Abraham Kampf was deported, Franciska Bornstein was already deported too. On the night of 28-29 August 1942 she was arrested during the second raid in Antwerp, after which she was brought to the Dossin barracks. Subsequently on 1 September 1942, Franciska Bornstein was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau with Transport VII. While on the train, Franciska was able to throw a postcard to her sister Berta writing “Do everything but do not keep the children”. In 1937, Berta Bornstein married fur worker and diamond cleaver Izrael Gunzburg, born on 12 January 1908 in Sanok, Poland. They lived at Apollostraat 31 where Berta’s parents also lived. Berta studied at the Antwerp Lyceum until 16 years old when Abraham Kampf teached her how to work as a diamond cleaver. Berta Bornstein and Izrael Gunzburg had a son named Albert Gunzburg, born on 9 October 1938 in Antwerp. On 14 August 1942, Izrael Gunzburg was sent from Antwerp to Organisation Todt labour camps Dannes & Condette and Ferques in Northern France to work on the Atlantikwall for the firms Julius Berger and also Erbes Bau. On 29 October 1942 he and other forced labourers were put on deportation lists and transported by train to Mechelen from where this Transport XVII continued on 31 October 1942 towards Auschwitz-Birkenau. After Berta received the post card from her sister Franciska, she put her son Albert and Franciska's son Arthur Kampf in the hands of friends neighbors and her second child baby Jacques by another diamond worker (Defossé?) of her husband. After a while this worker came in black and she understood that the baby was no more alive. He is buried in Putte, the Netherlands. So Berta told the other neighbors to bring her back the other two children. They came back but very sick as they received food not washed. A Jewish friend doctor came over and told her how to treat the children but he was never seen again. During 6 weeks Betty took care of them. Abraham was sick with tuberculosis, so Berta went to her school friend Gaby to seek help. Although many Germans came at Gaby’s house they were all against Hitler so Berta could stay as a ‘cousin’ by her friend with the children. She gets a letter from her husband to send him some money by two friends. She brings the money to the place in the woods where those two friends were waiting and runs away as she understand they won't give the money to her husband. A colonel, friend of Gaby, tells Berta she could go to Switzerland but without her mother, so she refused this. After that she hid in the house of a young girlfriend Mensch. This girl Mensch went in Berta's house and took the pictures of Berta's family and after the war gave them back. Berta managed to go with two “passeurs” to Switzerland but her mother Betty and Arthur got lost in Paris so they came back to Antwerp to a friend of Berta. Berta came back in Antwerp and succeed to go to Switzerland by telling that Arthur is the son of Betty and that she is 14 years old. When the Swiss discover the truth they put them in a closed camp and they could not see the children for 8 months. Arthur was put in a Lutheran family and Abraham in a Catholic family by a carpenter where he had to go to the church until Berta could see him and told to the family to stop it. Afterwards it was better and they managed to come back in Antwerp in 1945 where Berta worked in a shop with her mother. She managed to work as cleaver with Gustave Kampf, brother of Avraham. As Berta went with a friend to the Jewish group "Gordonia" she met Nathan Schieber, who was sent by the Jewish government to watch the building of a Jewish ship "Kedmah" for Israel. After 4 weeks they got married in Antwerp in 1947. They left for Israel in 1948 with the two boys. Berta and Nathan also had a son together, named Mordechai Zvi / Mickey. Nathan worked for Choham and later for the merchant marines "El Yam" in Haifa. Nathan died in 1991 and Berta died in Israel circa 2017-18. Albert eventually changed his name to Avraham Bar-Shai. He left Israel as an adult and moved to the United States of America. He died in 2015 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

On 22 October 2023, David Wasserman permitted Kazerne Dossin to digitally archive 6 photographs in this collection.

David Wasserman, 2023