Goffaux-Indekeu family. Collection

Hélène Indekeu was born on 25 July 1911. During the war she lived together with Florent Goffaux at 106 Rue Brogniez in Anderlecht, Brussels. The couple owned a tie and bowtie shop. While Florent led the business, Hélène cut the purchased fabrics and distributed the rough materials to their workers who crafted the final products at home. Around 1942 Hélène and Florent became active in the resistance. The couple and their neighbour, Jean Lekime, were involved in human trafficking. Jean smuggled forced labourers who escaped from German work camps across the Belgian-French border, while Florent and Hélène provided Jean with ration stamps and temporary housing for the refugees. Jean Lekime was arrested and executed for his resistance activities at the Tir National (national shooting range) in Brussels on 31 August 1943. Multiple refugees were hidden at the Goffaux-Indekeu household. Florent provided false papers for Frenchman André Paradis, who had been condemned to death after his escape from a German labour camp. André became a member of the Brussels resistance and when he was arrested, his false papers protected him from execution as he could not be identified. He was instead deported because he refused to work for the Germans and thus survived the war. Hélène provided another French escapee, Antoine Gosselin, with a hiding place as a concierge at a small farm owned by her family. Additionally, while in hiding with Florent and Hélène, forced labourer Henri Drouin alias Drouont fell ill. The couple paid for his medical bills, provided him with false papers and enabled him to flee to France. Henri Ciseau was hidden by the Goffaux-Indekeu family for ten days and was provided with a new hiding place, Jean Van Riel remained in hiding with the Goffaux-Indekeu family from April 1943 until liberation. Apart from escaped forced labourers, Florent and Hélène also took care of several Jews in hiding. Louise Wertheim, wife of Theofiel Alpern, was hidden at the Goffaux-Indekeu home from the Summer of 1942 until liberation. She had to hide in a closet during three raids by the Sicherheitspolizei-Sicherheitsdienst. When Hélène drove Louise to Nancy, France, to look for a route into Switzerland, she took her back home to Brussels when fleeing turned out to be impossible. Claire Eis, married Duyvelaer, was picked up by Hélène in the Netherlands in December 1942 after which she too was hidden at the Goffaux-Indekeu home until Liberation. Florent lent money to Felix Wertheim, and to Salomon Muller and his family to buy food and clothes, and he established contact between Heinz Basch and Jean Lekime who smuggled the 19-year-old boy to France. Hélène also visited Anderlecht city hall to obtain a valid copy of her own ID, afterwards replacing her photo with that of a certain Mrs. Grunbaum to provide the Jewish woman with a false identity. The families of Hans Lissauer and Jacob Fischer were also aided. Florent Goffaux and Hélène Indekeu actively sought hiding places for two Jewish children. Five year old Jo Rosenzweig (possibly Salomon Joseph Rosenzweig, born on 19 October 1937 in Brussels as the son of Isaac Rosenzweig and Bajla Tenenbaum) was hidden by the couple for three weeks after which Hélène brought the boy to the family of her uncle Jacques Indekeu in Neeroeteren, Belgium. Jo then became Jo Goffaux. He was raised on the family farm and went to school. Florent and Hélène placed eight year old Lothar Heinemann-Cohn (born in 1936 in Mannheim, Germany, as the son of Boas Heinemann-Cohn and Lotte Rosenthal), with Mr. Huys in Rotem, Belgium, when his mother could no longer take care of him, and payed for all the boy’s expenses. Both Florent Goffaux and Hélène Indekeu survived the war. On 24 March 1947 they received a honorary certificate and a medal from the Union des Anciens Détenus et Rescapés de la Caserne Dossin de Malines. On 12 October 1980 Florent and Hélène were honoured during the national ceremony in Brussels organised by the Comité d’Hommage des Juifs de Belgique à leurs Héros et Sauveurs. Hélène Indekeu unfortunately had passed away on 28 November 1975.

Lut Praet, niece of Hélène Indekeu, donated the original documents regarding her aunt's resistance activities to Kazerne Dossin in 2018.

Lut Praet, niece of Hélène Indekeu, 2018