Helfgott-Pschetiska family. Collection

Jozef Ber Helfgott was born in Zakla, Austria-Hungary, on 16 January 1881. He became an accountant and emigrated to Belgium in 1910, settling in Borgerhout. Jozef found work as a cutter in the diamond industry and religiously married Esther Hanna Pschetiska (also Pschetizki). Esther was born in Mlawa, Poland, on 10 February 1894, and emigrated with her parents and sister to Belgium in May 1911, where she worked as a diamond cutter. After their marriage, Jozef Ber Helfgott and Esther Pschetiska lived successively at various addresses in Antwerp. Their last known address in Belgium during World War I is Van Immerseelstraat 28. Abraham, the eldest son of Jozef and Esther, was born in Borgerhout on 6 April 1913. Jozef and Esther officially married on 23 May 1916 in Antwerp. Six weeks later, on 9 July 1916, a second son named Isaak alias Jacques was born. The family then homesteaded to the Netherlands where a third son named Eliezer was born in The Hague on 9 March 1919. In April 1920, the family returned to Antwerp and settled at Van Immerseelstraat 32 in Borgerhout, where youngest son Israel alias Simon Helfgott was born on 10 May 1920. In June 1930, Jozef, Esther and the children moved to Jan de Laetstraat 31, where Jozef died on 27 August 1930 as a result of poisoning after mistakenly taking a tonic. Esther Pschetiska then continued to raise her four minor sons on her own. The Helfgott brothers attended communal schools, and were musically and athletically inclined. Eliezer was a member of the Zionist youth movement Betar, Israel of the communist Jewish youth movement JASK and of the communist party. Abraham, Isaak and Israel - all three born in Belgium - opted for Belgian citizenship when they came of age. Only Eliezer, who was born in the Netherlands, retained their father Jozef Ber's Polish citizenship. Before World War II, Isaak Helfgott married Bacia Faszczak, born on 29 May 1916 in Czestochowa, Poland. Their infant daughter Helena Helfgott was born in Antwerp in 1938. Isaak lived with his family at Offerandestraat 43 in Antwerp. All four Helfgott brothers worked as cutters and polishers in the diamond industry just before the occupation. On 10 May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded Belgium. Even before or during the invasion, second son Isaak Helfgott fled to England. He enlisted in the merchant navy (merchant shipping fleet), serving as cabin boy aboard the British vessel St Elwyn. On 28 November 1940, this merchant ship with passengers on board was torpedoed by the German submarine U-103 on its voyage from Hull to Santos in Brazil. Isaak Helfgott was killed in that attack. Youngest son Israel Helfgott, was mobilised into the Belgian army as a reservist in 1939. He took part in the 18 Days’ Campaign as a soldier of the Sixth Line Regiment and was made prisoner of war near Oostakker, but was released after several weeks of captivity in June 1940, after which he joined his mother and two older brothers who lived at Moorkensplein 2 in Antwerp. In the following years, the family was forced to obey a growing number of anti-Jewish decrees. Thus, they registered in the Borgerhout municipal Jewish register in late 1940, had their identity cards stamped ‘Jood-Juif’ in the summer of 1941, and wore the yellow Star of David from June 1942. Just before the summer, Esther and her three sons moved to Plantin en Moretuslei 133 in Antwerp. In early July 1942, eldest son Abraham Helfgott received a work order. He was transferred on 18 July 1942, along with 287 other Jewish men from Antwerp, to the Les Mazures labour camp near Charleville in Northern France, where, under the supervision of the German construction company Organisation Todt, they had to produce charcoal for the construction of the Atlantic Wall. A Belgian citizen, Abraham - unlike most of the Jews in the labour camp - was not deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau on 23 October 1942. Instead, he remained in Les Mazures until 5 January 1944, after which he and about 40 comrades were taken from the labour camp to the Drancy transit camp near Paris, France. Abraham Helfgott was deported from Drancy to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport 66 on 20 January 1944 and did not survive. Youngest sons Eliezer and Israel Helfgott also received work orders for forced labour in July 1942. By then, they had both been long-time members of the Armed Partisans, part of the Independent Front resistance movement. After receiving the order, Eliezer and Israel Helfgott moved to Charleroi, where they were part of a group of 60 Jews put to work by Organisation Todt in a dolomite quarry in Merlemont. In doing so, they escaped forced labour abroad. The men were not detained in a camp, but lived in empty houses in Merlemont which still allowed them some freedom of movement. In the second half of August 1942, Eliezer and Israel left Merlemont and returned to their mother in Antwerp. The three of them went into hiding. They were first hidden with Mrs Boeckx at Handelstraat 26 in Antwerp and then with Jan Verspaendonk at Constitutiestraat 3 in Antwerp. Meanwhile, the two Helfgott brothers continued their resistance activities. In October 1942, Eliezer Helfgott left Antwerp and clandestinely crossed the border into France. In doing so, he used the false name and identity papers of his friend Charel Van Geenhoven. Eliezer was arrested in Saint-Claude, France, near the border with Switzerland, in early 1944 and was deported on 15 May 1944 via transport 73 from Drancy to Kaunas, where he was killed. Youngest brother Israel Helfgott led a predominantly Jewish cell within partisan corps 0.33, the Antwerp branch of the Armed Partisans, under the pseudonym Rikske from late 1942. He carried out attacks on railway infrastructure, on bureaus of collaborating organisations and on Nazis and collaborators. Israel Helfgott was shot dead on 27 April 1943 during an attack on collaborator Oscar Rasschaert near the sports palace in Deurne. He was buried at Schoonselhof and, like his brother Eliezer Helfgott, posthumously received several awards for his resistance activities. Both brothers were also recognised as armed resistance fighters. Esther Pschetiska, mother of the four Helfgott brothers, was the only one of her family to survive the war. After the occupation, she was reunited with her daughter-in-law Bacia Faszczak and her granddaughter Helena Helfgott. In May 1940, Bacia had managed to flee with her infant daughter and her parents via France to Morocco, where they survived the war. Esther Pschetiska obtained Belgian nationality in 1955 and lived in Antwerp until her death in the mid-1960s.

The documents and objects in this collection, relating to Isaak Helfgott, were kept by his widow Bacia Faszczak. From several documents she removed her husband's occupation (cabin boy) aboard the St. Elwyn, the ship on which he went down. The documents and objects related to Eliezer Helfgott and Israel alias Simon Helfgott were kept by their mother Esther Pschetiska. She framed a newspaper article about Simon, but removed from the text a reference to the communist party. The framed clipping and medals hung on display in her home until her death, after which the items passed to her daughter-in-law Bacia Faszczak. Bacia left everything to her daughter Helena Helfgott, who in turn bequeathed the pieces to her daughter Tania Polak. Tania donated the original items to Kazerne Dossin on 4 June 2024. On 23 July 2024, she added Israel alias Simon Helfgott's military identity certificate issued on 28 May 1940 and the bank note.

Tania Polak, daughter of Helena Helfgott, 2024