Simon Gronowski

Simon Gronowski was born on 12 November 1931, the son of Chana Kaplan and Léon Gronowski. Léon had fled his homeland of Poland in his twenties because of the hopeless situation Jews were facing and went in search of a better future in Belgium. After several difficult years in Belgium, he arranged for his wife Chana to come over. In 1923 Léon and Chana got married and one year later they had a daughter, Ita. Seven years later the family was completed with the birth of their son Simon.

The family lived in Etterbeek, where Léon and Chana ran the ‘Au Sally’ leather store and Ita and Simon attended school. Ita excelled in Greek and Latin as an exemplary student at the Lyceum of Ixelles. Simon attended elementary school and joined the local scouts.

When war broke out in Belgium in May 1940, the quiet existence of the Gronowski family came to an end. In May 1941 the family became victims of the economic measures that were being imposed. A sign reading “Jewish Business” appeared in the window of their store. After a while all the merchandise and furniture were confiscated. With help from their neighbour, the family decided to go into hiding in a small apartment on the first floor of a house in Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe. They moved in on 1 September 1942 and remained there until the 17th of March 1943 when the Sicherheitspolizei-Sicherheitsdienst picked up Simon, Ita and their mum Chana. Léon, who was in the hospital at the time suffering from a breakdown, managed to avoid arrest. He was taken to safety by friends after they heard about his family’s arrest.

Simon, Ita and their mother were locked up in a Gestapo basement on the Brussels Avenue Louise for several days. They were then taken by truck to Kazerne Dossin where they stayed for approximately one month. On the 18th of April Simon and Chana were told that they would be put on the next train. Ita was still able to escape because she had chosen Belgian citizenship on her sixteenth birthday. Belgian Jews were not yet being deported at that time. Simon and his mother left with 1,598 other prisoners on Transport XX for Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Transport XX gained some notoriety as it was the only convoy between Dossin and Auschwitz-Birkenau that was sabotaged from the outside. Three young men, Youra Livschitz, Jean Franklemon and Robert Maistriau raided the train and managed to open a carriage. In the process, seventeen people were able to jump from the train. People also escaped from other carriages by forcing their way out from the inside.

Simon was one of them. He jumped off the train near Borgloon. His mother helped him on the running board and released him just at the right moment. She was forced to stay on the train because she was no longer able to jump. Simon was assisted by people in the area who took him back to Brussels, where he was reunited with his father after the war.

Upon arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau Simon’s mother was immediately taken to the gas chambers. His sister Ita was put on Transport XXII a few months after Simon and their mother. She, too, was killed immediately.

Simon and his father Léon remained in hiding at various addresses in Brussels until the end of the war. The loss of his wife and daughter became too much for Léon. He died in despair on 9 July 1945 at their home in Etterbeek. Simon, who was 14 at the time, had to carry on alone. He rented out his parents’ house and managed to pay for his studies, becoming a lawyer and a Doctor of Law. He enjoys playing the piano, a hobby that his sister Ita had also pursued.

Meanwhile, Simon has reached the age of 93. Throughout his life, he has testified all over the world about the Holocaust in order to inform and warn as many people as possible about the consequences of pervasive hatred.

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