Rochman-Malberg family. Collection

Polish tailor Abraham Josek Rochman was born on 15 April 1879. On 11 August 1907 he married Syma Tema Malberg (born in Warsaw, Poland, on 22 May 1882). The couple had four children: Chaim Eleazar (born on 1 August 1908), Szaja alias Charles (born on 17 December 1913), Ruchla (born on 11 June 1915) and Bernard (born on 20 July 1920). In 1923 the family relocated to Paris, France, but in October 1928 second son Charles, who was very active in communist circles, was arrested during a protest march after which he spent six weeks in prison. The French authorities subsequently ordered the expulsion of the Rochman-Malberg family from France. Abraham, Syma and their children arrived in Belgium on temporary visa in the summer of 1929 and settled at Rue Gustave Defnet 31 in Saint-Gilles. Abraham started a tailor workshop where his wife and children also worked. In early October 1929 Abraham, his wife Syma and their two youngest children Ruchla and Bernard received a permanent residence permit for Belgium. However, eldest sons Chaim and Charles were ordered to leave the country within twelve days. It was only after father Abraham’s sudden death on 31 October 1929 that Chaim and Charles were allowed to stay to take care of their mother and younger siblings. The brothers were, however, placed under surveillance by the Belgian security service. By March 1930 no evidence of any suspicious communist activities had been found, because of which Chaim and Charles also received a permanent residence permit. Nonetheless, Charles did remain politically active and he even became an important member of the Jewish tailors syndicate and of the Jewish section of the Main-d’Oeuvre immigrée (MOI), the immigrant workers union affiliated with the communist party. When, in 1936, the Spanish Civil War broke out, Charles joined the International Brigades. He was a soldier for three years before being injured. His right hand was mutilated. Charles was repatriated to Belgium where he became a founding member of Solidarité juive, an organization which helped needy Jewish refugees who had fled Germany and Austria. By the beginning of 1940 most of the Rochman children had left home. Only Syma and her youngest son Bernard were living together at Rue du Téléphone 15 in Brussels. Eldest son Chaim had married Brajna Mejerzon (born on 31 July 1902 in Biala Podlaska, Poland) on 21 March 1936 and lived with her and their two children – Joseph Abraham (born on 21 August 1936 in Schaerbeek) and Anna Jeanne (born on 9 January 1940 in Brussels) - at Rue Henny 17 in Brussels. Second son Charles was romantically involved with Laja (also Loli or Liliane) Celmanska (born on 16 March 1909 in Warsaw), a Polish chemistry student who lived in Belgium clandestinely as she too was very active in communist circles and was threatened with expulsion. Daughter Ruchla had left home in August 1935 to live with her partner Abram Judel Grosfogiel (born on 15 August 1902 in Grodzisk, Poland) at Rue de la Pompe 13 in Brussels. Upon the occupation of Belgium by Nazi Germany in May 1940, Syma and Bernard were forced to obey the anti-Jewish decrees. Bernard took on a job at Etablissements Maroma. During the war, this company manufactured clothing for the Wehrmacht and for the Zentraltextilgesellschaft or Zentratex, an organization which delivered textile products to German civilians. In theory Maroma’s Jewish employees were exempted from deportation. Syma and her youngest son Bernard were nonetheless arrested and were registered at the Dossin barracks on 15 May 1943. Eldest son Chaim tried to intervene via the Association of Jews in Belgium, stating that Syma was an elderly woman suffering from asthma, but to no avail. Both Syma and Bernard were deported via transport XXI on 31 July 1943 and were murdered. Eldest son Chaim, like his younger brother Bernard, had excepted a job at Etablissements Maroma, but he and his wife Brajna were also arrested. Both were registered at the Dossin barracks on 28 September 1943 and were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via Transport XXIII on 15 January 1944. Neither survived. The same fate befell only daughter Ruchla and her family. On 4 November 1940 she had given birth to a daughter named Yvonne Jeanne Rochman. Ruchla and Yvonne were arrested and registered at the Dossin barracks on 11 November 1942. A request was sent to queen Elisabeth to intervene, but to no avail. Ruchla and Yvonne were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport XVIII on 15 January 1943. Both were murdered, as was Ruchla’s partner Abram Grosfogiel who was deported via transport XXI. Middle son Charles was the only one not to obey the anti-Jewish decrees. He and his fiancée Laja Celmanska never registered as Jews during the war. In May 1940 they had fled south, but as a veteran from the Spanish civil war Charles was arrested by the French authorities and was imprisoned in internment camps in Argelès and Gurs. He escaped in April 1941, upon which he and Laja returned to Belgium. On 28 June 1941 they married in Brussels. Both Charles and Laja re-joined the communist ranks of Solidarité juive and of the MOI via which Charles was in contact with Theodore Angheloff who founded the Corps Mobile des Partisans [Mobile Corps of Partisans] in Brussels in Spring 1942. Charles, code name Félix, was appointed head of its Jewish division. Among other exploits, his unit was responsible for the burning of the file card system of the Association of Jews in Belgium on 25 July 1942 and for the murder of Robert Holzinger, leader of the AJB labour section and thus responsible for the distribution of work orders, on 29 August 1942. Charles was arrested on 22 February 1943 and was held at the Breendonk camp for political prisoners until 17 August 1943 when he was transferred to the Saint-Gilles prison from where he was deported as a Nacht und Nebel detainee. Charles was murdered at the Mauthausen concentration camp on 26 November 1943. After Charles’ arrest, his wife Laja continued to work as a liaison officer between the Jewish Defence Committee (JDC), the largest hiding network in Belgium, and Solidarité Juive. She survived the war, as did Abraham and Anna Rochman, children of Chaim Rochman and Brajna Mejerzon, who were placed in hiding via the JDC. Abraham was hidden at the Sanatorium Prince Charles in Auderghem under the false identity of Joseph Ramagnée, while Anna was hidden as Anna Raemackers with Fernande Blommaert in Bièrges. After the war, both Abraham and Anna married and built a family.

Both documents, both photo albums and most of the single photos in this collection were preserved by Laja (also Loli or Liliane) Celmanska, wife of Szaja alias Charles Rochman. Laja brought some of the items with her when moving from Poland to Belgium in 1932. Upon her death the photos and albums were handed to her nephew Joseph Abraham Rochman who added single photos to the collection. In 2023 Joseph’s daughter Rosa Rochman kindly permitted Kazerne Dossin to digitize all items in this collection.

Rosa Rochman, 2023