1^o Paving stones in memory of the founding members of the Auschwitz Foundation

On 29 and 30 October 2014, 15 February 2015 and 17 October 2019, 40 memorial paving stones were laid in the streets of Brussels at the request of the Auschwitz Foundation to honour its founding members and those of the Amicale des Ex-Prisonniers politiques d'Auschwitz-Birkenau, camps et prisons de Haute-Silésie, from which it originated. The paving stones were set into the pavements at the addresses of the last homes known at the time of the arrests carried out by the occupiers, in memory of the founders and/or their families:

• CYMBERKNOPF, DUYSBURGH, GOLDSTEIN, KRUSZEL, SUFIT, VAN WEST (City of Brussels), GOLDBERG (City of Brussels and Ixelles), LACHMAN (Anderlecht), HALTER (Berchem-Sainte-Agathe), GOLDSTEIN-EHRLICH, RAINDORF, ROZENBERG (Saint-Gilles), and as a tribute to the families KICHKA (Saint-Gilles), NISENBAUM, SOBOL (Ixelles) and SADOWSKI (Anderlecht)

2^o ‘Rue Haute’. Paving stones in memory of the victims of the occupiers

In the 1930s, the Marolles district welcomed many refugees fleeing countries where Nazism and anti-Judaism made life impossible. During the Second World War, more than 25,000 people of Jewish origin were deported from Mechelen to Auschwitz by the occupiers.

In memory of the victims of Nazism who lived in Rue Haute and Rue Blaes in the Marolles district, the project involves laying a memorial paving stone for each person deported, persecuted for their origins and/or for having been a member of the resistance. The memorial paving stones are set into the pavements where the deportees lived, so that the passer-by can see a continuity of paving stones. The completion of this project will allow everyone to see, by walking along these two main streets of the Marolles district, the extent of the round-ups carried out during the Second World War.

35 memorial paving stones have been installed in Rue Haute since 2017 at the last known home of each of the following victims of the occupier:

• 9 memorial paving stones were installed in 2017 at 47, 49 and 60a Rue Haute (in alphabetical order):
  • Benjamin BIBERSZTEJN, Josef GURFINKIEL, Ruchla (Rosa) KIERSZ, Maria ROSENBLUM, Anna ROZENBLUM, David Israel ROZENBLUM, Jacob ROZENBLUM, Elias Max ROZENBLUM and Nachmann MESNER

• 8 memorial paving stones were installed in 2018 at 69 and 96 Rue Haute (in alphabetical order):
  • Bella (Betty) ELGARTEN, Herszon ELGARTEN, Moïse (Maurice) ESKENAZI, Dora KALDERON, Esther KALDERON, Icyk PERELSZTAJN, Simon PERELSZTAJN and Icek ROZENBLAT

• 2 memorial paving stones were installed in 2019 at 89 and 97 Rue Haute (in alphabetical order):
  • Fajga BIRENBAUM and Max FISCHEL

• A further 16 memorial paving stones were installed at 173 Rue Haute, as part of the City of Brussels' participatory budget - see point 5 below.

85 memorial paving stones have so far been installed in 2018 and 2019 in the Brussels Region at the last known addresses of these heroes executed by the occupying forces. The project will be continued in the coming years, as far as the budget allows, in order to honour the memory of all the victims who were buried in the Enclos des fusillés.

• 50 memorial paving stones were installed in 2018 (in alphabetical order):

• • Mauritz ANDRIES, Théodore ANGHELOFF, Léon BAR (BAUDOUIN), Joseph BAUWIN, Etrusco BENCI, André BERTULOT, Gaston BIDOUL, René BLUM, Armand BOGAERTS, Raymond BOSMANS, René BREMS, Édouard BROWAEYS, Jean CAIVEAU, René COMHAIRE, René COPINNE, Marcel DANEELS, Albert DE BADRIHAYE, Marcel DEMONCEAU, Théodore DENIS, Camille DE KONINCK, Albert DELCROIX, Marcel DENOOZ, Joseph DESCHAMPS, Jean DRUART, Edmond EYCKEN, Arnaud FRAITEUR, René GOBERT, Eugène HUBEAU, René LACHAUD, Paul LEMAÎTRE, Jean LEYNIERS, Richard LIPPER, Georges MARÉCHAL, Jean MOETWIL, Ernest MUSETTE, Georges NOËL, Eugène PREDOM, Jean PRUIN, Maurice RASKIN, Jean REDING, Jean-Baptiste SLEGERS, Jacques STORCK, Jean-François TIHON, Jean VAN CAMPENHOUT, Marcel VERHAMME, Martial VAN SCHELLE, Charles VERBIST, Marcel VERRALEWECK, Léon VREURICK and Philippe WINNEN

• 35 memorial paving stones were installed in 2019 (in alphabetical order):

• • Jacques DRABBE, Hersz DOBRZINSKI, Maurice MANDELBAUM, François NEYT, Rudolf SCHÖNBERG, Arthur VERDURMEN, Maurice REYGAERTS, Louis EVERAERT, Paul GELENNE, Julien KEMEL, Ghislain NEYBERGH, Jean BONTEMPS, Arthur HELLMANN, Achille HOTTIA, André LOUIS, Bruno WEINGAST, Raoul CLAEYS, Valère BROECKAERT, Joseph LOOSSENS, Frédéric MOHRFELD, Aloïs VERSTRAETEN, Vincent VANDERMAELEN, Albert MEURICE, Omer VANDEUREN, Émile VANLERBERGHE, Armand LEFORT, Mikulas (Michel) LOVENVIRTH, Maurice GEERAERTS, Louis RICKAL, Richard ALTENHOF, Jean COPPENS, Robert ROBERTS-JONES, Léopold DANEELS, Samuel POTASZNIK and Edmond VAN WEZEMAEL
  • Note: Dobrzinski was domiciled in the Charleroi region. The memorial paving stone was laid during the installations organised as part of our tribute to the Resistance fighters shot at Marcinelle, on 9 October 2019.

4^o Memorial paving stones in honour of the Resistance fighters executed at the Tir de Charleroi / Marcinelle during the Second World War
The following 10 memorial paving stones were laid on Wednesday 9 October 2019 as a tribute to the following Resistance fighters shot during the Second World War by the German army at the Tir de Marcinelle (Charleroi). This act is a continuation of our project dedicated to the Resistance fighters of the ‘Tir national’ mentioned in the previous point.

Memorial paving stones laid in honour of (in alphabetical order):

• Fernand BLAMPAIN, Émile DAUREL, Robert DELAHAYE, Narcisse ÉVRARD, Louis HANNICK, Maurice LINGLART, Achille LOSCAUX, Félix LUCKHAUS, René TOUSSAINT, Valentin WATHELET and Hersz DOBRZINSKI (see previous point)

5^o ‘Urban memory in the Marolles. Traces of the victims of Nazism’. Citizen workshop. Participatory budget 2018, City of Brussels

The project has two parts, the first concerns the laying of memorial paving stones in Rue Haute and the second affixing wall plaques on the façades of schools in the Marolles district.

a) 16 memorial paving stones have been laid at 173 Rue Haute - ‘The best way to honour the dead is to remember them’

In the 1930s, the Marolles district welcomed many refugees fleeing countries where Nazism and anti-Judaism made life impossible. During the Second World War, more than 25,000 people of Jewish origin were deported from Mechelen to Auschwitz by the occupiers. In memory of the victims of Nazism, the first part of the project aimed to continue laying memorial paving stones started in Rue Haute for people deported, persecuted for their origin and/or for having resisted, so as to offer the passer-by the sight of a continuity of memorial paving stones.

Memorial paving stones laid in memory of (in alphabetical order):

• Anna BORNSTEIN, Ella BORNSTEIN, Perla CHARENZOWSKA, Szulim HOFMAN, Madeleine MENDLEWICE, Sara MENDLEWICE, Leja MENDZYLEWSKA, Mirla OKSENHENDLER, Albert POSESORSKI, Claude POSESORSKI, Josef POSESORSKI, Menasze POSESORSKI, Abraham POTASIEWICZ, Fajgla POTASIEWICZ, Frida POTASIEWICZ and Joseph Leib POTASIEWICZ

b) Wall Plaques for the Marolles Schools – ‘Promoting Remembrance among pupils’

During the Second World War, Nazi Germany implemented its policy of exterminating the Jews of Europe here, as in all the occupied countries. The elaboration of this evil project was carried out step by step, specifically, by the promulgation of ordinances aimed at isolating the Jews from the rest of the population, with a view to their programmed deportation. This objective was achieved in Belgium following the implementation of 17 ordinances promulgated by the occupier between 23 October 1940 and 21 September 1942.

One of them, published on 1 December 1941, stipulated that Jewish pupils were forbidden to attend non-Jewish schools from 31 December 1941. Many of the pupils removed from their school were then deported and murdered in Auschwitz from the summer of 1942 onwards.

A commemorative plaque placed in front of the schools concerned should thus enable young generations to learn about the facts and to reflect on the strategies and means used by the occupier to achieve its ends.

A wall plaque was placed on the front of the following three schools:

• École fondamentale d'application ÉMILE ANDRÉ (107 Rue Haute)
• École fondamentale BARON LOUIS STEEN (255 Rue Haute)
• École primaire CHARLES BULS (86 Boulevard du Midi)

• In honour of Jean INGELS, 93-94 Fortlaan, in Ghent (6 March 2019)
  Lieutenant of the Comet network, a memorial paving stone was laid at the address of his last residence, with our support, by the Ghent section of the Confédération nationale des Prisonniers politiques et Ayants Droit de Belgique (CNPPA). Having been executed at the Tir National and buried at the Enclos des fusillés, this is consistent with our ongoing project.

• In honour of Jean PLAS, 56 Rue de Ruysbroeck, in the City of Brussels (10 October 2019)
  Owner of the eponymous printing firm, he contributed to the distribution of the underground newspapers ‘Action’, ‘Front’, ‘Faux Soir’, ‘Faux Signal’, from 1 April 1941 to 4 June 1944, the date of his arrest. In addition, he had hidden airmen and those resisting forced labour. This memorial paving stone, laid with our support, is a very useful addition to the information provided on our site devoted to the Jewish memory of the Marolles concerning the design, printing and distribution of the Faux Soir.

• As a tribute to the FRYDMAN family, 164 Rue Sainte-Marguerite, in Liège (24 January 2020)
  With our support and that of the Territoires de la Mémoire and the Association pour la Mémoire de la Shoah (AMS), five memorial paving stones were laid, on the initiative of Philippe Renette, English teacher and member of our Pedagogical Commission, by the pupils of the Centre Scolaire S2J (Rue Général Bertrand in 4000 Liège), as a tribute to the Frydman family.