Manes Klinger. Collection

Manes alias Martin Klinger was born on 19 January 1892 in Podgórze (Kraków), Poland, as the son of Marjem Klinger. During the First World War he served in the Austro-Hungarian army for which he received two medals. After leaving the army, Manes moved to Berlin where he worked for several copyright agencies. Threatened with arrest during Kristallnacht, Manes was forced to leave Nazi-Germany. He arrived in Belgium on 27 February 1939, hoping to continue his journey to the United States. His business acquaintance, Raphael Van Der Voort, founder and owner of Auteursbureau ALMO, Independant Management Entity in Antwerp, vouched for Manes. Manes settled at 242 Provinciestraat in Antwerp and initially depended on the Antwerp Committee for Jewish Refugees to survive since he didn’t have a Belgian work permit. Meanwhile he awaited his American visa since he already had obtained his affidavit. In November 1939, Manes received a temporary residence permit for Belgium after which he moved to 132 Mercatorstraat and 57 Somersstraat, both in Antwerp. His business contact Raphael Van Der Voort employed Manes as a secretary at Auteursbureau ALMO, Independant Management Entity, to help him get by. Manes still lived in Antwerp when Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940. He obeyed the anti-Jewish decrees, including registration in the municipal Jewish Register. At the end of 1940 the Nazis deported over 3.000 Jews from the city of Antwerp to the province of Limburg for reasons unknown today. Manes was one of them, being relocated to Asch, today As, on 19 January 1941, where he was housed at Dorpstraat 34 until 15 August 1941. He then returned to Provinciestraat 242 in Antwerp. In May 1942, Manes moved from Antwerp to Brussels where the climate was less anti-Semitic. He settled at Rue Dupont 73 in Schaerbeek. It is in Schaerbeek that Manes Klinger received an Arbeitseinsatzbefehl, a convocation summoning him for forced labour. He presented himself at the Dossin barracks on 3 September 1942, after having delivered a parcel with personal photos and documents to his employer at Auteursbureau ALMO, Independant Management Entity, for safe keeping. In Mechelen Manes was registered as person 614 on the deportation list of transport VIII. This train left Mechelen on 8 September 1942 and arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau on 10 September 1942. The train had made a previous stop in Kosel, where the men able to work were hurdled out. They were sent to labour camps in the area surrounding Auschwitz. It is possible that Manes was part of this group. In any case, he did not survive deportation. The management of Auteursbureau ALMO, Independant Management Entity, kept his documents safe for decades.

In 1942 Manes alias Martin Klinger entrusted a bundle with personal documents and photos to Misses De Cock, manager of Auteursbureau ALMO, Independant Management Entity. She kept the package in the company safe, where it was found after the war by Hendrik alias Rik Larivière who purchased the business from Raphael Van Der Voort's daughter and son-in-law. Rik Larivière (1922-2014) handed the untouched package of documentation to his son Paul, current owner and manager of Auteursbureau ALMO, Independant Management Entity, who spent some time inspecting it and doing some research. When realizing the importance of these invaluable documents he and his family decided that the only right place for these documents were the safe archives of Kazerne Dossin where the memory of Manes Klinger will be kept alive forever.

Paul Larivière, 2019