Harry Zeiger. Collection

Henryk alias Harry Zeiger was born in Krakow, Poland, on 12 June 1925 as the youngest son of Mozes Zeiger (born on 13 March 1895 in Debica, also Dembits, Poland) and Ruchel Stern (born on 31 May 1893 in Krakow). Henryk’s parents Mozes and Ruchel had met via a brother of Ruchel, when Mozes worked for his dairy delivering service in Scheveningen, the Netherlands, in 1916. Mozes and Ruchel religiously married in Krakow after the First World War and settled down in the city. Their eldest son Jakob was born there on 3 February 1923, followed by Harry two years later. At the time of Harry’s birth, his father Mozes was no longer in Krakow. Mozes had emigrated to Antwerp, Belgium, in December 1924, where he found employment in the diamond industry. When Harry was ten months old, his mother Ruchel obtained the necessary papers for her and the two children to follow Mozes to Belgium. The family first settled at Gitschotellei in Berchem, where Mozes and Ruchel officially married on 28 December 1926. Mozes became an experienced diamond cutter, working for renown diamond merchants such as Chaim Wanderer and the Langer family. In 1931 Harry started attending classes at Tachkemoni. His older brother Jacob was a pupil at the Jesode Hatora school as of 1929, switching to an Antwerp public school after three years. Meanwhile, the family changed addresses within Antwerp several times, living for a while above the Bonbony sports goods store run by the Borisewitz family at Simonsstraat 42. Pauline Bernstein-Borisewitz took Harry to the Antwerp zoo on several occasions, which was a real treat for the young boy. In his free time, Harry was a member of the Bne Akiva youth movement. When he was 14 years old, he started secondary school, taking classes at the trade school at Van Aerdtstraat. By that time, eldest brother Jakob was working in the diamond business of their father Mozes. When Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940, the Zeiger-Stern family lived at Plantin en Mortetuslei 130 in Antwerp. Upon the invasion, Mozes, Ruchel and their two sons fled Antwerp. When they reached Koksijde at the Belgian coast, the Polish commission on site helped them to enter France as the family held Polish nationality. After a couple of weeks in Calais, the Zeiger-Stern family returned to Antwerp and in the months that followed, normal life resumed. However, as of October 1940, the family was forced to obey the anti-Jewish decrees. At the end of 1940 Mozes, Ruchel, Jakob and Harry all registered in the municipal Jewish register of Antwerp. In April 1941 Harry even witnessed the destruction of the synagogue located at Oostenstraat during the Antwerp pogrom. In Spring 1942 forced labour for Jews was decreed in Belgium. Harry and his brother Jakob were at risk, because of which their father Mozes decided to leave Belgium. The family contacted Antwerp-Jewish human traffickers who smuggled them by train from Brussels to Paris and then Bordeaux, where the family crossed the demarcation line into unoccupied France. For six months, Mozes, Ruchel, Jakob and Harry lived in a hotel located at Rue Vendôme 110 in Lyon, until anti-Jewish raids were organised in the city. In early September 1942, the Zeiger-Stern family separated in an attempt to reach Switzerland. Jakob travelled alone, while Harry and his parents took a train to the border, using false French identity papers. In Annemasse, Harry and his parents found a smuggler who drove them to the French-Swiss border in his taxi, after which they crossed into Switzerland on foot. Harry and his parents Mozes and Ruchel arrived in Switzerland on 19 September 1942, with Jakob arriving separately on the same day. The four of them were reunited in Geneva after which they were accepted into Switzerland as a refugee family. However, Harry and Jakob were then separated from their parents. The two teenage boys were sent to multiple labour and internment camps in Eriswil, Davesco, Mezzovico and Lugano. In Davesco, Harry and Jakob performed forced labour, building roads and a bridge. Their father Mozes Zeiger was held in a men’s camp in Corbeyrier, while their mother Ruchel stayed in a women’s camp near Luzern where she had to fabricate shirts. Sadly, Harry’s brother Jakob drowned in a lake in Cassarate (Lugano) on 25 July 1943. Harry was nearby and witnessed the drowning, but didn’t learn until later that his own brother was the victim. The family never recovered from Jakob’s death. Harry and his parents Mozes and Ruchel survived the war in Switzerland and returned to Belgium together on 21 June 1945, where they settled at Van Den Nestlei 25. Harry took on a job as an apprentice diamond clover with his father Mozes who restarted his business. On 20 June 1954 Harry Zeiger married Micheline Wierzchowski (born on 15 June 1937 in Ixelles, Belgium) who had survived the Second World War in Belgium as a hidden child. The couple had three children and multiple grandchildren together. Harry Zeiger passed away on 28 November 2013.

All documents and photos in this collection were saved by Harry Zeiger. Upon his death, the items were passed on to his daughter Dora Zeiger-Weinberg. On 6 June 2024, Dora and her son Charles Weinberg kindly permitted Kazerne Dossin to digitise all documents and photos from their family archive.

Dora Zeiger-Weinberg and Charles Weinberg, 2024