The Landau family was severely affected by Nazi terror during the Second World War. Jacob Grunfeld recounts the following: “Jacob Landau and his wife Lea Blitzer settled in Antwerp over a hundred years ago, together with their first two children. Three more children were born in Antwerp, all in Borgerhout. In 1936, Jacob Landau’s parents, Jozef and Esthera Bergstein-Landau – my great-grandparents – also made the long journey from Poland to Antwerp. Before the war, the Landau family led a quiet and simple life. Jacob Landau was a diamond cutter and had his own workshop where he employed staff. Lea Blitzer had a great talent for sewing and contributed to the family income with her work. The eldest son, David, joined his father before the war and learnt the diamond trade. His brother Noé studied at the Jewish secondary school Ets Chaim in Heide. The youngest son, Hertog, attended the Commercial School in Antwerp. Daughter Regina studied at the Jesode Hatora – Beth Jacob school in Van Ruusbroeckstraat. The youngest daughter, Anna, joined her there for a short time as a six-year-old girl. The peaceful family life came to an abrupt end in 1942. David and Noé were called up for so-called ‘labour deployment’. Noé reported for duty, but David refused. David was later arrested during a raid on a tram.
Jozef and Esthera were arrested during the round-up on the night of 15–16 August 1942. On the night of 28–29 August 1942, Hertog and his sister Regina were also arrested. Their youngest daughter, Anna, was saved thanks to the courage of a local resident, Cyriel Muyshondt. All the other family members who were arrested were deported via Mechelen to Auschwitz-Birkenau and murdered there.” Herman van Goethem also writes in his book “1942. The Year of Silence” about the raid on Friday 28 August 1942 (page 204). “... in Bleekhofstraat, where a great many Jews live, the panic is terrible. Jacob Landau screams so loudly that he tears a vocal cord and has to be taken to hospital. His wife Lea Blitzer is not taken away either because she is too ill. The neighbour hides little Anna Landau, aged six, under the counter of his shop, but the family’s two other children, Hertog and Regina, aged fifteen and twelve, are taken away. The gendarmes throw Regina into the lorry like a sack of flour.”
(Photo credits: ARA, foreigner files nos. 1,062,539, A308,351, A369,632, A405,847 and 1,371,218)
