Gizela Flachs. Collection

Gizela Genia alias Gisèle Flachs was born on 27 January 1935 in Przemysl, Poland, as the daughter of Naftali Flachs (born on 24 December 1903 in Zamosze, Poland) and Regina Knebel (born on 24 February 1911 in Przemysl, Poland). In 1938 Naftali fled to France, while Gizela and her mother Regina joined Regina’s parents Tzvi and Mindel Knebel-Erbsman in Boryslaw, Poland (today Boryslav, Ukraine). In 1941, Jews were forced to declare all their furrier goods. When Gizela’s grandfather Tzvi hid a few items the family was denounced. The Gestapo came to arrest Tzvi and his wife Mindel but Gizela’s mother Regina sacrificed herself and went with Tzvi, leaving Gizela with grandmother Mindel. The last image Gizela has of her mother is how Regina is being beaten by the Gestapo while trying to say goodbye to her. Gizela never saw her mother or grandfather again. Regina and Tzvi were presumably murdered in Belzec in 1942. A few months after the arrest of Regina and Tzvi Gizela’s grandmother Mindel became ill. She passed away in 1942, leaving seven-year-old Gizela by herself. Gizela received help from some neighbors for a while before being placed with her widowed maternal aunt Lucia Knebel. Because of raids in the neighborhood Lucia placed Gizela in hiding. The girl was first housed by a communist couple living in the same apartment building as Moshe Knebel, the twin brother of Gizela’s mother Regina. The couple, however, sent Gizela away out of fear of further persecution. A good friend of Gizela’s mother then took Gizela in and hid her behind a wardrobe in her bedroom. Gizela could only come out when the woman’s daughter wasn’t home, and was treated poorly. At several occasions the woman forced Gizela to tear up and burn religious books of her grandfather Tzvi to heat the apartment. Out of fear of the Gestapo, which held an office in her street, the woman sent Gizela away, pointing her knowingly in the direction of the Gestapo office. Gizela quickly chose another route and fled. She was then brought to the labour camp Koszary-Boryslav where her aunt Lucia was detained and where she worked as a cook. Gizela was hidden at several locations in the camp, such as her aunts dormitory, the office of a doctor treating Germans, a false sealing and the maternity ward of the camp. After the maternity ward was raided Gizela was smuggled out of the camp in the backpack of a male Jewish worker. She survived in the woods for two years, living at three different locations, together with other Jewish refugees. At the last location Gizela was reunited with her maternal uncle Leon Knebel (born on 7 September 1903 in Przemysl, Poland), his wife Esther Erbsman (born on 8 August 1911 in Przemysl, Poland) and their daughter Anita. After Liberation Esther continued to treat Gizela poorly, forcing her to go beg for food and depriving her of any warmth and comfort. In 1946 Gizela, her uncle, aunt and cousin were sent to the Ainring displaced persons camp in Germany, from where Gizela rejoined her father in France in 1947. Naftali had survived the war by fleeing from Lyon, France, to Switzerland in January 1943. Gizela was sent to Belgium to go to school as her paternal uncle Leiser Flachs had survived the war there. Gizela married two times, has a son and three grandchildren. She still lives in Brussels. Her father Naftali passed away in France in 1974.

Gizela Flachs was interviewed by Dorien Styven, archivist at Kazerne Dossin, on 18 August 2022 in the presence of Regina Sluszny. The interview took place at Gizela Flachs' appartment in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert (Brussels).

Gizela Genia alias Gisèle Flachs, 2022