Esther Blau

Esther Blau was born on 5 April 1924. She was the seventh child of the Blau family. In all, there were ten of them: eight children and their parents, Isaac Blau and Helena Goldblatt. Esther spent the first years of her life in Debica, a Polish town where she was also born. When Esther was two years old her father and eldest sister Chawa came to Belgium. They moved into a house in Borgerhout. Less than one month later, brother Abraham and sister Anna also came to Belgium. Almost two years later, in 1928, sister Beila arrived. Several months later her mother, sister Itta and youngest sister Rosie followed. Eventually, older sister Rochma and Esther herself also arrived in Belgium. On 6 June 1932 the family moved to the Zurenborg neighbourhood in Antwerp. Like her sisters, Esther attended a Handelsschule (= commercial college) in Durletstraat in Antwerp, where they were taught with a focus on the commercial sector.

On 10 May 1940 the German army invaded Belgium. Between 10 May and 17 July 1940 Isaac Blau and some members of the family tried to escape the violence of war in Koksijde. They returned to Antwerp when the entire country had been occupied. The German occupation forces required Jews to register in the Register of Jews. The Blau family obeyed and all members of the family enrolled. Most of them continued to obey the rules and later bought a yellow Star of David as well.

Esther, Rosie and Anna, the three youngest daughters of the family, were the first to be deported. Esther was 18 years old at the time. All three girls were issued with an Arbeitseinsatzbefehl summoning them to compulsory labour. Failure to comply with an order of this nature could result in punishments for themselves and their families, which is why, on 10 August 1942, the three sisters reported to Kazerne Dossin. They remained in Mechelen for only a few days because on 15 August 1942, the guards put the girls on Transport III, which took the Blau family’s three youngest sisters to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon arrival almost two thirds of the deportees of this transport were killed immediately. There are no exact records showing when Esther and Rosie were killed. The date Anna died is well known; she died on 13 October 1942.

Following in the footsteps of the three sisters, the parents Isaac and Helena were also rounded up and deported. The eldest sister Chawa fled with her family to France where they were arrested during a raid. The Nazis took her and her daughters to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Sister Itta initially managed to avoid deportation because she was able to produce a sickness certificate in response to an Arbeitseinsatzbefehl (compulsory labour order). The occupying forces eventually did pick her up too and took her to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Sister Beila fled Belgium with her daughter. They ended up in France, from where they were also eventually deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau where they were all murdered. Only two of the ten members of the Blau family survived the war. Rochma and Abraham managed to flee in time and thus avoid deportation.

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