Fischman-Weiser family

Salomon Fischman was born on 1st July 1912 in Synowodzko Wyzne, Poland (today Verkhneye Sinevidnoye, Ukraine), as the son of Hersch Fischman and Rachel Wasserbach. In December 1928, when he was only 16 years old, Salomon travelled from Poland to Antwerp, where his older brother Joseph worked as a barber. Salomon learned the trade and, in the 1930s, opened his own salon. On 29 December 1937 Salomon married Elli Hirsch who had been born on 15 February 1914 in Hulchrath, Germany. Elli had immigrated to Belgium in 1934 to join her sister Jenni Hirsch in Antwerp. In 1935 the sisters were joined by their widowed mother Julia Schnook who would pass away on 4 September 1939. A third sister, Cilli Hirsch, lived in the Netherlands. After their marriage Salomon and Elli made house at Van Nevelestraat 22 in Deurne. Their son Emiel was born in Antwerp on 18 October 1938. The Fischman-Hirsch family still lived at Van Nevelestraat when Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940. They fled to Bordeaux, France, but returned by the end of the year. Salomon, Elli and Emiel were subsequently forced to obey the anti-Jewish decrees. Salomon registered his family in the municipal Jewish register in December 1940. In Summer 1941 he and Elli had their ID cards stamped with the words “Jood-Juif” and in Spring 1942 they became members of the Association of Jews in Belgium. On 14 July 1942 Salomon was sent to a work camp near Calais where he had to perform forced labour on the Atlantic Wall for Organisation Todt. While Salomon was detained there his wife Elli and their son Emiel were arrested at home during the second anti-Jewish raid in Antwerp (28 on 29 August 1942). They were registered at the Dossin barracks on 29 August 1942 and were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport VII on 1st September 1942. Both were murdered. On 10 September 1942 Salomon Fischman escaped the labour camp in Pas-de-Calais. He returned to Antwerp only to learn his wife and son had been arrested and deported. Salomon subsequently hid at the home of neighbor Frans Daniël (Van Nevelestraat 91) and at the house of Mattheus Gorlé (Van Heetveldelei 113, Deurne). His acquaintance Arthur Gaethofs then provided him with false papers. Salomon became Michel Vervaecke and fled to Alès, France, where he continued to work as a barber and where he joined the resistance. Salomon collected information for the allied armies and helped smuggle young men to England where they could join the war effort. A few months after Liberation, in June 1945, Salomon returned to Antwerp. He was reunited with his sole surviving relative: his niece Sara Fischmann (born on 9 November 1922), the daughter of his brother Joseph. Joseph himself, his wife Alta Grynbaum (born on 26 August 1896) and their two children had fled to France in 1940 and had settled at Place de la République 24 in Coursan. Joseph worked as a barber in the local hair salon owned by Louis Arnaud. In July 1942 son Isaak Fischmann (born on 24 July 1932) even spent a few weeks at a vacation colony in Le Grau-du-Roi. Unfortunately, Joseph, Alta and their son Isaak were arrested – presumably during the large raid organized in southern non-occupied France on 26 August 1942 – and were sent to the Rivesaltes internment camp. The three of them were deported from Drancy to Auschwitz-Birkenau via Transport 31 on 11 September 1942. Sara survived the war in hiding in France, but never recuperated from the loss of her parents and brother. She passed away in Antwerp in 2003. In 1949 Salomon Fischman married Helena alias Chaja Weiser, a Holocaust survivor from eastern Europe. Helena had been born in Skotarska, Poland, on 11 September 1926, as the daughter of Zelman Weiser and Dora Fixler. She had five siblings: Hilda, Moric (Maurice), Edith, Abraham (Bubi) and Ryfka. Helena was arrested in her birth town in August 1941, after which she was forced to wear the yellow star. She was then sent to Jaslowiec near Buczacz, Poland (today Yazlovets near Buchach, Ukraine), where she was forced to work for the occupying authorities. In December 1941 Helena was able to flee after which she was hidden by the Halpert family in Mukacevo, Czechoslovakia (today Mukacheve, Ukraine), for four weeks. When travelling to Berehovo, Czechoslovakia (today Berehove, Ukraine), to warn relatives in hiding that they had been denounced, Helena was arrested too and was sent to a prison in Budapest, Hungary. In April 1942 she was released, but she was subsequently forced to reside in Berehovo until May 1944 when she was deported to Auschwitz. Helena remained there until 18 January 1945 when a death march took her to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated in May 1945. Although Helena’s parents and youngest sister Ryvka were murdered, Helena’s other four siblings survived. After Liberation, the youngest were taken in by Olga Fierz who cared for them in a castle near Prague. Olga received the title of Righteous amongst the Nations in 1966. In May 1946 Helena and her younger brother Moric, who was ill, joined their uncle Abraham Weiser in Antwerp, while Hilda, Edith and Abraham made their way to British Palestine, via an internment camp in Cyprus. In Belgium Helena Weiser met and married Salomon Fischman. The couple settled in Antwerp and had two daughters: Clara and Dora. Salomon passed away in 1965, Helena in 2022.

On 20 January 2023 Clara Fischman, daughter of Salomon Fischman and Helena Weiser, donated the original items in this collection to Kazerne Dossin.

Clara Fischman, 2023