Gulden-Bruches family. Collection

Mayer Gulden was born in Grodisk, Poland, on 18 May 1902 as the son of Szlama Gulden and Sura Gothart. He became a shoe maker. In 1926 he married Pesa Bruches in Warsaw, Poland. Pesa was born in Warsaw on 18 May 1902. After her marriage to Mayer she took care of the household. Their daughter Dina Gulden was born in Warsaw, Poland, on 14 July 1927. On 24 December 1928 the Gulden-Bruches family migrated to Belgium. They settled at Rolwagenstraat 70 in Antwerp. Mayer found a job at a shoe workshop nearby. On 20 November 1932 Pesa gave birth to a son who was named Mozes Aron Gulden. The family moved around Antwerp before settling at Berlaimontstraat 14 in Deurne where they befriended Emiel and Valerie Acke-Duerinckx living next door. Their son Jozef Acke was especially fond of Dina. On 10 May 1940 Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium. The Gulden-Bruches family obeyed the anti-Jewish decrees. They registered in the municipal Jewish register, became members of the Association of Jews in Belgium and wore the yellow star. On 5 August 1942 Mayer Gulden was arrested and sent to northern France as a forced labourer for Organisation Todt. During his absence, on 29 August 1942, Pesa Bruches together with her children Dina and Mozes Aron Gulden were arrested. None of them survived deportation from the Dossin barracks to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport VII on 1st September 1942. On 31 October 1942 Mayer Gulden was deported from the labour camps in northern France to Auschwitz-Birkenau via Transport XVI. However, he was able to jump from the train en route and made his way back to Deurne. He was welcomed by his neighbours Emiel and Valerie Acke-Duerinckx who hid Mayer at their home from 1st November 1942 until a week after Liberation. Mayer was housed in the bedroom of their son Jozef together with Leon Monheit who was also hidden by the Acke-Duerinckx family. Leon was an acquaintance of Mayer: both men knew each other from around the neighborhood and had played cards together at café Breda (Statiestraat) in the proximity of the Antwerp Central Station. Both men survived the war in hiding with the Acke-Duerinckx family. Mayer Gulden passed away in Antwerp seven weeks after Liberation. He was one of the 130 victims struck by a V-Bomb at Teniersplaats, Antwerp, on 27 November 1944 and passed away at Stuivenberg hospital that same day. Leon Monheit was united with his family.

The Acke-Duerinckx family hid Mayer Gulden from 1st November 1942 until a week after Liberation in September 1944. Several Gulden family photographs as well as letters regarding the hiding of Mayer and another Jewish man by the Acke-Duerinckx family were saved by the rescuers after the war. Jozef Acke, son of Emiel and Valerie Acke-Duerinckx, together with his daughter Florence Acke kindly permitted digitisation of the collection by Kazerne Dossin in 2019.

Jozef Acke and his daughter Florence Acke, 2019