Wejnberg-Dymensztajn family. Collection

Nizel alias Nathan Wejnberg (also Weinberg or Wajnberg) was born in Nowe Miasto, Poland, on 15 October 1885 as the son of Joseph Wejnberg and Kajla Frajdenraf. Nizel became a digger. During the First World War he served as a soldier in the Russian army. On 29 May 1919 Nizel married Laja Dymensztajn in Tomaszow, Poland. Laja had been born in Radoszyce, Poland, on 15 August 1898 as the daughter of Szlama Dymensztajn and Bina Najdorf. Nizel and Laja’s son Joseph was born in Tomaszow, Poland, on 4 June 1920, after which the family moved to Lodz, Poland, where daughter Bina was born on 19 November 1921. In July 1924, Nizel emigrated to Belgium. He settled at Rue du Roton 45 in Charleroi. Upon the arrival of Laja and the children mid-August 1924, the Wejnberg-Dymensztajn family settled at Rue de la Régence 47 in Charleroi. Nizel became a trader, and, after moving to Antwerp in 1928, he founded his own moving company. In Antwerp, Nizel, Laja and the children first lived at Lange Kievitstraat 74 and later at Somersstraat 24. The family still resided at Somersstraat when Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940. By then son Joseph was working as a furrier. During the war, the Wejnberg-Dymensztajn family was obliged to obey the anti-Jewish decrees. Nizel, Laja, Joseph and Bina registered in the municipal Jewish register of Antwerp in December 1940. On 24 December 1940, Bina Wejnberg married Lewek alias Leon Wien, born on 15 September 1919 in Czestochowa, Poland. The newlyweds settled at Plantin en Moretuslei 153 in Antwerp. In early 1941, Bina’s husband Lewek and his mother Kaza Unglik (born on 15 December 1894 in Klobucho, Poland) received an expulsion order as part of a group of about 8000 foreigners that were being forced to relocate from Antwerp to the Limburg province. In February 1941, instead of obeying the order, Lewek, Bina, Lewek’s mother Kaza, Bina’s mother Laja and Bina’s brother Joseph moved from Antwerp to Rue Joseph Wauters 115 in Ecaussinnes. Nizel Wejnberg stayed behind in Antwerp, perhaps to take care of his business. In Spring 1942, all relatives living in Antwerp and in Ecaussines, were forced to become members of the Association of Jews in Belgium. David, the son of Bina and Lewek, who had been born in Ecaussinnes on 15 November 1941, was also registered. In late July 1942, Laja and her son Joseph, living in Ecaussinnes, received an Arbeitseinsatzbefehl, a work order. They presented themselves at the SS-Sammellager Mecheln (Dossin barracks) at the end of July and were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport I on 4 August 1942. Both were murdered. In early August, Nizel, back in Antwerp, also received a work order. He reported at the Dossin barracks on 8 August 1942 and was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport III on 15 August 1942. He too did not survive. On 20 August 1942, Bina, Lewek and David officially reported to the Ecaussinnes municipality that they were moving to Rue Verte 31 in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode in Brussels. Instead of moving, they went into hiding at Rue de l’Escaille 11 in Ecaussinnes under the false surname Wallem. From her hiding place, Bina reached out to acquaintances and family members to keep track of what was happening to her family’s home and belongings in Antwerp. Bina, Lewek and David survived the war in hiding. After the war, Bina gave birth to a second son named Naty and a daughter named Linda. Bina Wejnberg passed away in 2007.

The items in this collection were preserved by Bina Wejnberg, daughter of Nizel and Laja Wejnberg-Dymensztajn. Upon Bina’s death on 28 July 2007, the items were passed on to her son Natan Wien, and her granddaughter Valerie Wien. On 15 April 2024 Natan and Valerie kindly permitted Kazerne Dossin to digitise the items in this collection.

Naty Wien and his daughter Valerie Wien, 2024