Walking in their Footsteps in Antwerp

While in Antwerp last May, I visited the neighborhood where the Krymholc family had lived and tried to imagine what they experienced as they arrived in a new country. After a long and difficult journey by train, my grandmother and her two young children, Ita and David, arrived at Antwerp's Central Station, November 13, 1921. The Central Station was the point of entry for thousands of Jewish immigrants arriving from Eastern Europe.

Just steps away from the station was the Jewish Quarter, where many immigrants stayed in crowded hotels for several weeks or months until they could board a ship to America. Watch the video, Arrival at Central Station from the Red Star Line Museum, to see actual footage from the same time period.

Central Station, Antwerp

Immigrants staying in Antwerp beyond just a few weeks were required to register with the police department. I saw my family's registration documents at the Felix Archives. From these documents, friend and researcher Jackie Schwarz, prepared a detailed list of the five residences where family members had lived from 1920-1937 (two addresses no longer exist).

Pesa (Pola) and her children lived in a private residence at Plantin en Moretuslei 96 in the Jewish Quarter from November 1921 until February 1922, when they boarded the SS Minnedosa at the Port of Antwerp to continue their journey to the United States.

Pesa and children lived at Plantin en Moretuslei 96, 1921-1922

As I stood in the doorway to record this video, I thought of my 22 year-old grandmother with her two small children, in a new country, preparing to leave her family and Europe forever. When I heard chanting from a nearby synagogue, I imagined the crowded Jewish neighborhood one hundred years ago with immigrants from all over Eastern Europe who were also awaiting their voyage to North America.

I learned that my grandfather, Szol, who arrived in Antwerp the year before Pesa, in April 1920, lived at Korte Kievitstraat 12 in a second floor room rented from Mrs. Cohen. He left for the United States sometime before April 1921. Pesa's father, my great grandfather, Abraham, also arrived in 1920, gave his address as Plantin en Moretuslei 96. I assume Abraham continued to live at this address when my grandmother and her children arrived the following year. Abraham listed his next address at Van Immerseelstraat 37, where he lived from March to December 1923, and Plantin en Moretuslei 32 in December 1923.

Abraham listed his address at Van Immerseelstraat 37, March to December 1923

Sura Matel, my great grandmother, and her young son, Mordechai Ber, arrived in Antwerp in 1926. However, both my great grandfather and great grandmother returned to Lublin before 1930. I wondered why my great grandfather lived in Antwerp for ten years during the 1920s. Was he able to make a better living there as a tailor? Was he also preparing for his family to immigrate to the United States? Why did they return to Lublin?

 Plantin en Moretuslei 32 in December 1923 (now a bike shop)

Pesa's brother, Chaim, arrived in Antwerp in 1926, and also worked as a tailor. Chaim married Rachela Blat from Lublin in 1927. They had three children, Moise, Sarah and David. Documents show they lived at Bleekhofstraat 40 and Simonsstraat 6 in the Jewish Quarter until 1937. 

Bleekhofstraat 40, Chaim, Rachela Krymholc & children,1931-37

Simonsstraat 6, Chaim, Rachela Krymholc & children, 1937

In May 1939, relatives Fanny and Benny Sembler came from America to visit Krymholc families in Antwerp and Lublin. Although Chaim and Rachela are shown in this 1939 photo (below), their address at that time was not included in the file at the Felix Archives. We do know, however, from his letter to my grandmother, Chaim and his family fled Antwerp before 1941 (likely after Nazi occupation of Belgium beginning in May 1940) for Frankfurt and then Saint Affrique, France. In her research, Jackie found documents of their capture and deportation to Auschwitz in 1942. See From Lublin to Antwerp

Jackie and I visited Stadspark in central Antwerp, where this 1939 photo was likely taken.

1939 photo of Krymholc family and visitors, likely taken in Stadspark

Photo on the left ( l to r):  Benny Sembler, Rachela Blat Krymholc, Fanny Sembler, Chaim Krymholc

Photo on right (front row, l to r)  Mrs. Mendell , Mrs. Stuger, Fanny, Chaim, Mr. Mendell 

(back row,  l to r), Mrs. Rubenstein, Rachel, Benny, Mrs. Rubenstein. We do not know the relationship between the Krymholc family and Mrs. Mendell, Mrs. Stuger and Mrs. Rubenstein. 

Back of the postcard listing the names of those pictured.

Spending precious time in Antwerp, I felt honored and fortunate to walk in the footsteps of my family and connect their names and images from photographs to places where they were happy and hopeful.