Kichka-Gruska family. Collection

Josek alias Joseph Kichka was born in Skierniewice, Poland, on 15 March 1900. He held Polish nationality and became a tailor. During the First World War he was held at a detention camp for civilian prisoners in Havelberg, Germany. In November 1918, Josek clandestinely fled from Germany to Belgium. When he was tracked down by the immigration authorities in Brussels in February 1919, Josek was transferred to the Merksplas refugee centre. He was released in November 1919 and then settled at Rue Haute 117 in Brussels. In the years that followed Josek changed addresses within the capital frequently. He also met and religiously married Chana Gruska (also Gruszka), a leather worker born on 15 December 1899 in Kaluszyn, Poland. Their only son, Henri, was born in Brussels on 14 April 1926. Eldest daughter Bertha followed on 30 August 1927, youngest daughter Nicha on 27 October 1933. Josek and Chana officially married in Saint-Gilles, Brussels, on 9 December 1939. Josek provided for his family by working as a tailor from his home. When Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium, the Kichka family lived at Rue de Mérode in Saint-Gilles, Brussels. On 13 May 1940 the family fled to France. They reached Revel near Toulouse where they were housed by locals, until the Vichy regime started transferring Jewish foreigners to an internment camp in Agde in September 1940. In November 1940 the Kichka family was sent from Agde to the Rivesaltes camp near Perpignan, France. An aunt living in Paris was able to obtain their release, thanks to which the Kichka family was able to return to Belgium in January 1941. They then settled at Rue Coenraets 29 in Saint-Gilles. All members of the Kichka family were subsequently forced to obey the anti-Jewish decrees installed by the Nazi’s. They registered in the municipal Jewish register, became members of the Association of Jews, were expelled from their non-Jewish school, and were forced to wear the yellow star of David. In the summer of 1942 eldest daughter Bertha Kichka (14 years old) received an Arbeitseinsatzbefehl [work order]. She was ordered to report at the SS-Sammellager Mecheln (Dossin barracks) for forced labour. Her parents and siblings escorted her to the tram station, from where she travelled, by herself, to Mechelen. Bertha was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via Transport I on 4 August 1942 and was murdered. Josek, Chana, their son Henri and youngest daughter Nicha were arrested at home during the only large anti-Jewish raid organised in Brussels (night of 3 on 4 September 1942). The four of them were then taken to the Dossin barracks from where they were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via Transport IX on 12 September 1942. Chana and her daughter Nicha were presumably sent to the gas chamber upon arrival on 14 September 1942. Josek, his son Henri and the other able-bodied men on-board Transport IX were forced out of the train at the Kozel station, 80 kilometres from Auschwitz-Birkenau, and were sent to labour camps in the surroundings of the main camp. Josek and Henri stayed together and survived slave labour at Sakrau (three weeks), Klein Mangersdorf (two and a half weeks) and Tarnowitz (six months). In Spring 1943 Henri got ill. He suffered from oedema, and was separated from his father. Henri was sent to Annaberg and then to Schopinitz. He was reunited with his father in the Blechhammer labour camp in May 1943. In Blechhammer, numbers were tattooed on the men’s forearms: Josek was marked 177777 and Henri 177789. They were forced to leave Blechhammer on a death march in January 1945. The survivors of the march reached the Gross-Rosen camp on 7 February 1945. Three days later, on 10 May 1945, the group arrived by train in Buchenwald. Josek Kichka died in Block 66 at the Buchenwald concentration camp on 17 February 1945. Henri was liberated by the American army on 11 April 1945. He was repatriated to Belgium on 3 May 1945. He married and built a family. Henri Kichka passed away on 25 April 2020. Contact Kazerne Dossin Research Centre: archives@kazernedossin.eu This collection contains: a pre-war photo of siblings Henri, Bertha and Nicha Kichka with their friends Maximilien (Max) and Sara Skala at the beach ; a pre-war photo of Josek (Joseph) Kichka and Chana Gruska (also Gruszka) with their children Henri, Bertha and Nicha Kichka walking down a street ; a pre-war photo of three Jewish girls (Mathilde Bein, Sara Skala and Nicha Kichka) wearing the yellow star of David while posing in a park in Forest, Brussels, 1942 ; a post-war drawing by Henri Kichka, commemorating all Jews and Roma deported from the Dossin barracks during the war.