Zomersztajn-Burgman family. Collection

Liber Zomersztajn was born in Czestochowa, Poland, in 1904. In February 1929, he married Bajla Burgman, born in Dzialoszyn in 1904. After six months, Liber left for Belgium, to find work as a laborer with an iron and steel producing company. His wife Bajla Burgman and their daughter Cypra, born in March 1930, followed Liber to Belgium in June 1930. The family settled in Seraing-sur-Meuse. In 1936 a son, Szlama, was born. The family moved to Seraing, where two sisters of Bajla Burgman, Estera Bajla Burgman and Ita Burgman, also lived with their families. On 3 August 1942, Liber Zomersztajn was summoned for forced labor and sent to work with Organisation Todt in the North of France. After five weeks he was sent back to Belgium for an operation on a hernia. His wife, Bajla Burgman was sent to the arms factory in Herstal as a forced laborer from 12 August 1942 until 5 September 1942. At the end of September 1942, Liber Zomersztajn and Bajla Burgman sent their two children to a castle owned by baron de Launoit, where children were able to recover from war conditions. Cypra and Szlama were hidden there by headmistress Paula Allard, a former social worker at the "Ougrée-Marihaye" iron and steel producing company where Liber Zomersztajn had worked. In the winter of 1942-1943, Szlama Zomersztajn was sent to Gaston and Juliette Biatour in Cornément, where he survived the war. His sister Cypra Zomersztajn passed through several families and also survived. On 4 December 1942, Liber Zomersztajn and his wife Bajla Burgman, together with Bajla's sisters and one brother-in-law, were arrested. Two weeks later, on 17 December, they were taken to the Dossin barracks. They were deported via transport XIX on 15 January 1943. All of them perished.

Zomersztajn-Burgman family, 2013