Micheline Wierzchowski. Collection

Micheline Wierzchowski was born in Ixelles, Belgium, on 15 June 1937 as the second daughter of Rachmil Juma alias Richard Wierzchowski (born on 14 August 1908 in Lodz, Poland) and Dwojra alias Dora Lewkowicz (born on 28 April 1907 in Piotrkow, Poland). In 1925, Rachmil had emigrated to Belgium in the company of his parents Srul and Mariem Jacheta Wierzchowski-Grunstein and his siblings Chaim alias Charles, Mordka Mayer alias Max, and Chaja Sura Wierzchowski. Upon their arrival in Belgium, the family had settled at Rue Gaucheret 6 in Schaerbeek. Rachmil earned a living working as a door-to-door salesman. On 1st October 1930 he married seamstress Dwojra Lewkowicz. The couple first lived at Rue Joseph Claes 96 in Saint-Gilles, and, as of October 1930, at Rue d’Angleterre 54. On 26 August 1931 Dwojra gave birth to a daughter named Anna, followed by youngest child Micheline in 1937. By then, the family lived at Rue du Camion 29 in Schaerbeek. When Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940 the Wierzchowski-Lewkowicz family fled to the Belgian coast in an attempt to reach England. They were accompanied by Rachmil’s parents Srul and Mariem, and by Rachmil’s siblings Mordka and Chaja Sura. The extended family was staying in a hotel in De Panne, when the building was bombed on 1 June 1940. Brothers Rachmil and Mordka were out trying to find food at the time. All other relatives, who were hiding in the basement of the hotel, were killed during the bombing, except for Rachmil’s youngest daughter Micheline, who was found under the debris by Rachmil, protected by her mother Dwojra’s dead body. Their ordeal would have a large impact on Micheline for the rest of her life. Severely injured, she was repatriated to the Saint-Pierre hospital in Brussels where she recovered over time. Her father Rachmil and uncle Mordka also returned to Brussels. Mordka rented a room with Jean and Julia De Bast-Dechef at Chaussée de Charleroi 206, while Rachmil lived at Rue Gaucheret 6, before moving to Rue du Danemark 34 in Saint-Gilles where he was joined by Micheline before the end of 1940. On 4 September 1942 Rachmil Wierzchowski was admitted to the Sanatorium Georges Brugmann in Alsemberg, under the protection of dr. André. Rachmil made himself useful, doing some maintenance work. On 15 May 1943 Rachmil received a visit from his brother Mordka, who was still living with Jean and Julia De Bast-Dechef. Unfortunately, there was a raid that same day and the brothers were arrested and transferred to the SS-Sammellager Mecheln (Dossin barracks). Upon hearing about their arrest, Mordka’s landlord Julia Dechef visited the barracks in an attempt to bribe the camp administration. Julia was able to obtain the release of Rachmil, but Mordka refused to accept Julia’s offer to pay for his release. Mordka was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport XXI on 31 July 1943 and disappeared during a death march towards the end of the war. Mordka did not survive. Upon his release from the Dossin barracks, Rachmil returned to the sanatorium in Alsemberg. On 25 February 1944, he was transferred to a sanatorium in Waterloo, run by the Oeuvre Nationale Belge de Défense contre la Tuberculose. He stayed there until Liberation and relocated to Boulevard Leopold II 29 in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean on 11 September 1944. The day of Mordka and Rachmil’s arrest, the Nazis took Mordka to the house of Jean and Julia De Bast-Dechef who they accused of hiding a Jew. Luckily, Jean and Julia could convince the Nazis that they had not known that Mordka was Jewish, in addition to proving that Mordka had officially paid them rent. During the visit of the Nazis, Mordka’s niece Micheline Wierzchowski and her maternal cousin Anna Lewkowicz (born on 16 April 1930 in Etterbeek) were hiding in Jean and Julia’s basement. Both children had first been in hiding at the catholic institute run by doctor Edmond Cordier in Woluwé-Saint-Pierre. During a raid on the institute in 1943, the Nazis discovered 68 Jewish girls hidden there. Two were missing as the institute’s staff had hid Micheline and Anna in a closet in the attic, thus preventing their arrest. When returning the next day to look for the two missing girls, the Nazis again could not find them as, upon hearing about the raid, Jean and Julia De Bast-Dechef – who also acted as the girls’ contact persons in case of emergency – rushed to the institution by car to pick up Micheline and Anna. Micheline and Anna would live at the De Bast-Dechef family home for the duration of the war. They took on the surname De Bast and were presented as the children of Jean De Bast’s brother. To make sure no one suspected them to be Jewish, they joined Jean and Julia at church on Sundays and Julia took them out for celebrations and to go dancing. Nonetheless, Micheline did remain very frightened every time she saw or was approached by a German. She was also afraid of the basement, which was a constant reminder of the bombardment in De Panne, and she urged Julia not to go down there as basements seemed very dangerous to the young girl. Jean and Julia doted upon the girls, who were well taken care of. Although they were enrolled in a local school, it was too dangerous for them to attend classes, so Jean taught them at home. Being renowned tailors, Jean and Julia created beautiful ensembles for their wards. Micheline was also taken to see her father, Rachmil, in the sanatorium at several occasions. After the war, Rachmil placed Micheline in an orphanage, not being able to take care of his daughter himself. Nonetheless, Micheline was allowed to return to her rescuers Jean and Julia De Bast-Dechef every weekend. When the orphanage was hit by a V2 bomb, Micheline returned to her father and continued to live with him, although she frequently ran away to find Julia and Jean. Sadly, Jean De Bast passed away in 1947. Julia then married family friend Jojo Vermeulen. Micheline was present at their wedding. In 1948, Rachmil Wierzchowski married Rachela Rozenbusz (born on 19 September 1909 in Lublin, Poland) who lost her husband during the Holocaust. That same year, Rachmil obtained Belgian nationality. On 20 June 1954 Micheline married Harry (Henryk) Zeiger who had survived the Second World War in Switzerland. The couple had three children and multiple grandchildren together. In 1994 Micheline’s rescuers Jean and Julia De Bast-Dechef were posthumously recognized as Righteous amongst the Nations. Micheline Wierzchowski passed away on 5 May 2023.

All documents and photos in this collection were saved by Myriam Vermeulen, daughter of Micheline Wierzchowski's rescuer Julia De Bast and her second husband Jojo Vermeulen. Myriam shared copies with Micheline and Micheline's 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