Gabriel Bauden. Collection

Gabriel Bauden was born in Pabianice, Poland, on 23 July 1911 as the son of Abraham Bauden and Kaila Stein. In 1928, after the death of his father, his mother Kaila and sister Chaja migrated from Poland to Belgium. Gabriel followed his family in 1929. Without a valid work permit he started working illegally as a clerk at Hotel Spira in Knokke at the Belgian seaside. In April 1932, the Belgian immigration services became aware of his activities. Gabriel was caught and although the authorities threatened him with forced expulsion to Poland, Gabriel was able to obtain a residence permit since he was the only one who could provide for his mother and sister. Later in 1932, Gabriel left Knokke and settled in Borgerhout, Antwerp. In 1938 he found a job as a sailor, but the Belgian immigration authorities had registered him as a hotel clerk and Gabriel was forbidden to perform another job. He subsequently moved to Blankenberge and started working in a hotel, only to return to Antwerp in 1940. Gabriel moved in with his mother and assisted her in her work as a door-to-door vender. It is probably in Antwerp that Gabriel met the non-Jewish Belgian Jenny Imberechts, born in Antwerp on 11 May 1921. The youngsters started a relationship. The Bauden family still lived in Antwerp when Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940. The next two years, Gabriel obeyed the anti-Jewish decrees. He registered in the municipal Jewish Register of Belgium, became a member of the Association of Jews in Belgium, had his ID stamped with the words “Jood-Juif” and wore the yellow star. In August 1942, Gabriel received a work order, an Arbeitseinsatzbefehl. He reported at the Dossin barracks on 8 August 1942 and was registered on the deportation list of Transport III. During the week that he was held at the camp, he wrote a letter to his girlfriend Jenny about the living conditions in Mechelen. After the departure of Transport III on 15 August 1942, Gabriel threw a second letter for Jenny out of the train. It would be his last sign of life. According to the Auschwitz death records, Gabriel was selected for forced labor but perished on 15 September 1942. His girlfriend Jenny would never forget about him and cherished his photos and letters until her death in 2015.

These documents and photos from Gabriel Bauden were meticulously preserved by his girlfriend Jenny (Joanna) Imberechts. After she passed away in 2015, the collection was discovered by a befriended family which generously donated the originals to Kazerne Dossin in 2018.

Friends of Jenny Imberechts, 2018