Landau-Blitzer family. Collection

Jacob Landau was born in Jadachy, Poland, in 1898 and became a diamond trader. In 1922 he married Leah Blitzer, whom was born in Zareby, Poland, in 1898. Leah gave birth to two sons before the family migrated : David, born in 1923, and Noé, born in 1924. Jacob Landau arrived in Belgium in December 1924. His wife and sons followed in February 1926. The Landau-Blitzer family settled in Borgerhout, Antwerp, where three more children were born : Hertog in 1927, Regina in 1930 and Anna in 1936, on the day of her oldest brother David's Bar Mitzvah. The parents were religious and the children were raised accordingly. In May 1940, the Landau-Blitzer family, including the parents of father Jacob Landau, fled to France. Upon their return to Belgium, they tried to rebuild their lives. David had started to work in the diamond trade and Noé – who studied at Yeshiva Ets Chaim - began smuggling to provide for the family, while the three youngest children still went to school. In July 1942, David and Noé Landau received a convocation for forced labour (Arbeitseinsatzbefehl). Although David went into hiding with an aunt in Brussels, not willing to obey, Noé presented himself at the Dossin barracks. He did not survive deportation via transport III to Auschwitz-Birkenau on 15 August 1942. David would be arrested in Brussels in February 1943 and deported from the Dossin barracks via Transport XX on 19 April 1943. He presumably perished in March 1944 in Monowitz. In the night of 29 on 30 August 1942, a second big anti-Jewish raid was organised in the Jewish quarters of Antwerp. The police also entered the house of the Landau-Blitzer family upon which father Jacob Landau started screaming so loud that he bled from the mouth. This scene allowed Jacob and his wife to remain at home. Next-door neighbour Cyriel, a grocery store owner, had come over to see what was going on and pretended that Anna Landau was his own daughter so she would not be arrested. However, he also helped to look for Hertog and Regina Landau that had fled and pointed them out in the street, still holding Anna. Hertog and Regina Landau were deported via transport VII from the Dossin barracks on 1st September 1942. Both perished. After the raid Jacob Landau and his wife Leah Blitzer were hospitalized, leaving 6 year old Anna on her own. She often changed sleeping quarters, roaming the streets on her own. Eventually, her mother placed her at the orphanage led by the Jewish Council at the Tachkemoni school in the Lange Leemstraat in Antwerp. When the institute was evacuated, Anna Landau was placed into hiding in Lasne and later in Rixensart. After liberation Anna was relocated to the Jewish orphanage in Wezenbeek, where her parents found her on Erev Sukkot 1944. They had been arrested at the hospital on 13 June 1944, but had not been deported since they possessed papers to emigrate to Palestine. Anna and her parents were the sole survivors of the Landau-Blitzer family and carried the burden of the loss of Anna's siblings their whole lives. Anna married in 1954 and still lives in Antwerp.

After the death of her father Jacob Landau, Anna Grunfeld-Landau found a sealed envelope containing documents regarding her family history. Out of respect she did not open the package until 2010. Inside she discovered a photo of her siblings and several documents referring to the fate of her family during the Holocaust. Anna Grunfeld-Landau met dr. Veerle Vanden Daelen, deputy director and curator of Kazerne Dossin, on 16 November 2016 during a ceremony celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Hidden Child Association in Belgium. She subsequently allowed Kazerne Dossin to digitise some of the documents and published interviews she owns. Anna Grunfeld-Landau was also interviewed by dr. Vanden Daelen on 30 November 2016.

Anna Grunfeld-Landau, 2016 and 2018