Simon Gronowski

Simon Gronowski (born October 12, 1931 ) is a Belgian Holocaust survivor who escaped from "Transport XX" during World War II .

Life

Gronowski was arrested by the Gestapo on March 17, 1943, along with his mother and sister Ita . Simon's father, who emigrated from Poland to Belgium in 1920, was in hospital at the time and his mother claimed he was dead. The three arrested persons spent two days in the Gestapo cellars on Avenue Louise and a month in the Dossin -Barracks in Mechelen . For the time being, Ita was lucky: she was initially excluded from deportation because she had acquired Belgian citizenship when she turned 16, which later became her undoing.

April 19, 1943 was the day on which Simon saw his sister for the last time, he said goodbye to her - without knowing that this was a goodbye forever. He left the barracks, which he himself calls "the accident barracks", surrounded on the right and left by two rows of armed soldiers, and boarded a cattle wagon with his mother and 50 to 60 other people.

Until then, 3rd class passenger cars were always used for the deportations. But with them it was possible to escape from the windows, this was to be made more difficult and only cattle wagons were used on the 20th deportation train , the doors of which were additionally secured with barbed wire. On this train was eleven-year-old Simon, among 1,636 people in 30 wagons. In Boortmeerbeek, about 30 km from Mechelen , an extraordinary liberation action took place that went down in history: Youra Livschitz , Robert Maistriau and Jean Franklemon , three activists from the Belgian resistance, decided to hinder the 20th deportation and the prisoners to help escape.

With the help of an improvised signal lamp, the three managed to stop the train, and while Youra Livschitz shot into the air to simulate a major partisan attack, Robert Maistriau and Jean Franklemon tried to unlock the lock on the car doors with pliers. The two were actually able to open a wagon before the overwhelming force of the guards, a 40-strong commando of German police, became too great. 17 people fled from the wagon. As the train continued, Simon fell asleep in his mother's arms, but in his subconscious he could still hear the men in his car being motivated and setting about breaking open the door from the inside. When Simon's mother woke him, the train was rolling, but the door was open. His mother put him on the step - and he jumped. He was still waiting to see if his mother would jump after, but she stayed in the car. Today Simon believes that his mother did not jump so as not to hinder his own escape. After his jump into life, Simon found himself in the province of Limburg again. He walked through the night until he finally met the policeman Jean Aerts . Aerts quickly realized that Simon was a Jew on the run. He protected him.

After the liberation of Belgium, Simon was able to go back to his father. They were both waiting for a message from Simon's mother and Ita, but when it came they found out what they feared: Simon's mother was gassed on April 22nd, and Ita on September 22nd, 1943, two days before her 19th birthday in Auschwitz. The father died of grief on July 9, 1945.

Gronowski has spoken little about his past for over 50 years. Today he not only talks, but has also written a book and a children's book about his experiences.

Fonts (selection)

L'enfant du 20e convoi. Luc Pire 2005
Simon, le petit évadé - L'enfant du 20e convoi. Luc Pire
Simon Gronowski, Koen Tinel, David Van Reybrouck : Ni victime, ni coupable. Enfin libérés . (Renaissance du Livre)

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ http://users.telenet.be/holocaust.bmb/eng/Gronowski.htm

personal data
SURNAME	Gronowski, Simon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Belgian Holocaust survivor
DATE OF BIRTH	October 12, 1931

[1] ttp://users.telenet.be/holocaust.bmb/eng/Gronowski.htm