Eight drawings by Jim (Haïm) Kaliski, 1995-1999, indian ink on paper. Filmed April 19, 2023 in the Jewish Museum of Belgium, in Brussels, at the exhibition ‘236 – Land(es)capes from the 20th convoy’. 1) Pogrom Antwerp, 14 April 1941
2) The Summons for Mechelen “The Trap”
3) Mechelen Waiting Room of Death , 1942-1944
4) The Time of Darkness, 1942-1944
5) Razzia Rue Bara , Anderlecht (Brussels), 3 Sep 1942
6) Attack 20th Convoy, 19 April 1943
7) At the road ‘Chaussée d’Etterbeek’ (Brussels), Feb. 1944
8) Haïm from Etterbeek, Mar 1944
License info : Jim Kaliski Transport XX | 20230426 | Miracles•Media | TakeNode d3615ee4-04b9-456e-aa73-1b7056b15619
Video report of the preview 19 Jan 2023 presented by photographer Jo Struyven of photo exhibition ‘236 — Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy’. Photo exhibition of works by Jo Struyven and Luc Tuymans in the Jewish Museum of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium | January 20 – August 14, 2023. License info : 236 Land(es)capes 20th convoy | 20230126 | Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media | TakeNode 428839bb-7165-4771-a490-27158928ec25
On April 19, 1943, the 20th transport left the Mechelen transit camp to deport 1,631 Jews to Auschwitz. Thanks to resistance actions, both inside and outside the wagons, 236 of these deportees managed to jump from the train that would lead them to destruction.
Photographer Jo Struyven revisits this unique act of resistance in Western Europe during the Nazi regime and shows us the landscapes in which this little-known story took place.
From 20 January 2023, the Jewish Museum of Belgium, in partnership with the Auschwitz Foundation, presents the exhibition entitled ‘ 236, Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy ‘. It is set up in the museum’s project space and offers an artistic look at an exceptional and forgotten event in the Second World War.
The 20th convoy
At 10 p.m. on April 19, 1943, the 20th convoy departed from the Kazerne Dossin transit camp in Mechelen with 1,631 Jewish deportees in cattle cars, heading for Auschwitz. Thanks to resistance actions, both inside the wagons and from outside, 236 of these deportees managed to jump from that train, that was leading them to extermination. An unique event in Europe under the Nazi administration.
Jo Struyven, photographer
The work of the Belgian photographer Jo Struyven (°Sint-Truiden, 1961) takes us back to these acts of resistance – commemorating the 80th anniversary in 2023 – and gives us a glimpse of the landscapes in which this striking story took place. Taking the perspective of those who jumped off that train, an act for which many of them paid with their lives, Struyven creates a contemporary ‘memorial’ with 19 large ‘nocturnal’ black and white images, and one colour print.
Jo Struyven :
The 20th convoy, heading for the unspeakable “Auschwitz”, crossed the area where I grew up, barely 50 meters from my childhood bedroom — I found out 2 years ago after meeting Simon Gronowski. Ever since, I imagine the distress of the deportees. The destination was unknown to them. Some, sensing the worst, tried to escape it. I wanted to give an account of this border between life and death, between resignation and the impossibility of choosing, and the freedom regained with resistance to the oppressor’s plans.
Works presented by Jo Struyven
Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy, 2020-2022, 19 black and white prints, 1 color print, 90×60 cm (Private collection – Belgium)
Jo Struyven, Land(es)capes from the 20th convoy 2020-2022, black and white print, 90x 60 cm, Wijchmaal (Private Collection, Belgium)Jo Struyven, Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy 2020-2022, black and white print, 90x 60 cm, Bierbeek (Private Collection, Belgium)Jo Struyven, Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy, 2020-2022, black and white print, 90x 60 cm, Borgloon (Private Collection, Belgium)Jo Struyven, Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy, 2020-2022, black and white print, 90x 60 cm, Piringen (Private Collection, Belgium)Jo Struyven, Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy, 2020-2022, black and white print, 90x 60 cm, Botzelaer (Private Collection, Belgium)
Luc Tuymans, visual artist
In dialogue with Jo Struyven’s photographs, two works by Belgian visual artist Luc Tuymans (°Mortsel, 1958) evoke the destruction of the Jews and Roma of Europe. Die Wiedergutmachung (The Reparation) depicts body parts – left the eyes of gypsy children who had been experimented on by the Nazis. … images that in its incompleteness, reflect the inability to represent facts and memory .
Works presented by Luc Tuymans
Luc Tuymans, Our New Quarters, 1986, Oil on canvas, 80,5 x 120 cm (MMK – Germany) (Photo Ben Blackwell, courtesy David Zwirner, New York, London)Luc Tuymans, Die Wiedergutmachung, 1989, Oil on cardboard, mounted on plywood, Oil on canvas; diptych, 36,6 x 43 cm, 39,4 x 51,8 cm, courtesy: Private collection (Photo Studio Luc Tuymans)
Art after the Shoah
“Writing a poem after Auschwitz is barbaric”, wrote German philosopher Theodor W. Adorno in 1949. Through two contemporary perspectives from the visual arts, this exhibition seeks to address this question of the (im)possibility of art after the Shoah in a new way.
Testimonies & Catalogue
This exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue book edited by Daniel Weyssow and Jo Struyven and published by the Auschwitz Foundation entitled Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy (press release on April 19, 2023), as well as an educational space presenting the testimonies from interviews and archives of convoy escapees.
Info+ ( & Français | Nederlands)
236 Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy Jo Struyven / Luc Tuymans Exhibition at the Jewish Museum of Belgium, in Brussels, Belgium 20 January – 14 August 2023 Brussels Website https://www.mjb-jmb.org
Video report : Vernissage ‘236’ Land(es)capes 20th convoy
Thursday January 19th, 2023, the vernissage of the photo exhibition 236 — Land(es)capes from the 20th Convoy was opened with speeches by Philippe Blondin, President of the Jewish Museum, and by Pierre-Yves Jeholet , Minister-President of the Government of the Federation Wallonia-Brussels. Next, the Belgian photographer Jo Struyven presented his work — escape landscape photographs glowing in the dark — like being lit by moonlight — as well as paintings contributed by Luc Tuymans in the project space. The exhibition runs from January 20 – August 14, 2023 in the Jewish Museum of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium. Video report (20230120) Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media .
Jan 20, 2023 – VRT | Kristien Bonneure (Belgian Flemish Broadcast) 20 jan 2023
Evrard Voorpijls – Belgian political prisoner , resistance fighter – told a grim story on Gestapo torture methods, during the Last Witnesses – “De Laatste Getuigen” – book (ISBN 9789054877370) presentation by Marc Van Roosbroeck (chairman of vzw “De werkgroep 10 december 2008”) on 20 May 2011 in Tongeren , Belgium.
Evrard Voorpijls (born 6 March 1923) died at the age of 89 (March 5, 2013) in the town he was born, in Maaseik, Belgium.
First post 20210520 – Updated film (for music copyright reasons dd 20210521 by shortened film edition, with replacement of the Belgian national anthem ‘La Brabançonne’ by an U.S. Navy performance of François Van Campenhout’s composition (public domain retrieved from commons.wikimedia.org) .
TRANSCRIPT
Ik ben aangehouden geworden, nieuwjaar 1944.
Ik werd overgebracht van Maaseik naar Hasselt, naar de gevangenis.
En de tweede dag dat ik in die gevangenis zat in Hasselt, heeft de Sicherheitsdienst die gehuisvest was op de Havermarkt te Hasselt, recht tegenover het gerechtshof …
Ik werd daar naartoe gebracht.
En met handen op de rug achter de stoel gebonden.
Scherp licht op mijn ogen gezet.
En ze hadden juist, de opdracht, wat ik deed in de weerstand.
Ik werd ondervraagd, en ik heb dat altijd doen afschreeuwen.
Ik werd beschuldigd, dat ik wapens en munitie van Wallonie naar Maaskant bracht.
Dat ik de sluikpers verspreidde – dat was in die tijd de ‘De Rode Vaan’.
Ik heb Russische en Franse krijgsgevangen – die ontvlucht waren – heb ik geholpen.
En eventueel zelfs piloten die ik aangewezen kreeg, dat ik die dan naar een weerstands-huis moest brengen, en van daaruit gingen ze dan terug naar Engeland, over Frankrijk en Spanje.
Ik heb het altijd afgeschreeuwd, waarvan ik beschuldigd werd.
En ik heb gezegd tegen de ondervragers:
Hoe kan ik dat gedaan hebben ?
Ik, als mijnwerker, want …
Als mijnwerker, was het geluk onder den oorlog – ge werd nooit naar Duitsland gevoerd, want ge werkte voor de Duitsers – daar werd wel sabotage gepleegd in de kolenmijnen.
Ze hebben mij geslagen en gestampt.
Totdat ik bewusteloos neerviel op de vloer.
Ik kreeg een kom water over mijn gezicht gesmeten.
Terug … ondervraagd , drie dagen aan één stuk.
Dan hebben ze me weer terug naar de gevangenis gebracht in Hasselt.
En de week daarna zijn we overgebracht worden, naar Antwerpen, naar de Begijnenstraat, naar de Wehrmacht gevangenis.
Daar ben ik dan ondervraagd geworden door de Gestapo in de Dellafaillelaan onder in de kelder.
Toen ze mij daar binnen brachten – zag ik bloedplekken op de muren.
Toen begon ik toch een beetje te bibberen, zal ik maar zeggen.
Maar van de ene kant – ik ben een stijfkop.
En dat ben ik nog – wat ik voor heb , dat moet gebeuren.
Ze hebben me weer ondervraagt .
Dezelfde vragen gesteld als in Hasselt.
Ik bleef altijd hetzelfde zeggen.
En te lange laatste, na 3-4 dagen ondervraging…
…hebben ze mij duimschroeven opgezet –
op deze vingers – want dat zijn de pijnlijkste vingers , als ge aan het werk zijt.
Nog niet bekennen – aandraaien , aandraaien, aandraaien – nog niet toegeven.
En toen, hebben ze tandenstokers onder mijn nagels geklopt.
Nog niet toegeven.
En toen, hebben ze ijskoud, die nagels uitgetrokken.
En als ge wilt – ge kunt het zien :
Ze zijn mismaakt – en met die handen kan ik niet veel doen.
Zelfs de grote tenen – hebben ze de nagels uitgetrokken.
Dat was hier bij de ondervraging door de Gestapo.
Marc Van Roosbroeck (voorzitter) : Dank u wel Evrard, voor deze zeer moedige getuigenis.
—
TRANSLATION (20210525) by Michel van der Burg
I have been apprehended, New Year 1944.
I was transferred from Maaseik to Hasselt, to prison.
The second day in that prison…
taken to the Sicherheitsdienst…
housed at the Havermarkt in Hasselt…
right in front of the court.
I was taken there.
And…with hands behind my back…
tied to a chair.
Bright light, put on my eyes.
They were right…about my assignment…
what I was doing in the resistance.
I was interrogated…
and that, I always have screamed away.
I was accused, of bringing weapons and ammunition,
from Wallonia to the Maaskant.
That I distributed the clandestine press…
that was ‘De Rode Vaan’ at the time.
I helped Russian and French prisoners of war, who had fled.
And, on occasion, even pilots that I was assigned.
I had to take them to a resistance house…
from which they went back to England – over France and Spain.
I have always denied their accusations.
And I said to the interrogators:
How could I have done that?
Me, as a miner, because…
As a miner…luck was…during the war…
you were never taken to Germany…
because, you worked for the Germans…
though, sabotage was committed there in the coal mines.
They hit and kicked me.
Until I fell unconscious on the floor.
I got a bowl of water thrown in my face.
Then, interrogated again, three days in a row.
Then, they brought me back to prison, in Hasselt.
And the week after, we were transferred…
to Antwerp, to the Begijnenstraat, to the Wehrmacht prison.
There, I was interrogated by the Gestapo…
in the Dellafaillelaan, in the basement.
When they brought me in there…
I saw blood stains on the walls.
Then, I started to shiver a bit…so to speak.
But on the other hand…I’m a pigheaded person.
And I still am : what I’m planning, that must be done.
They interrogated me again.
Asked the same questions as in Hasselt.
I always kept saying the same thing.
And finally, after 3-4 days of interrogation…
they put thumbscrews on me…
on these fingers…
because, those are the most painful fingers…
when you are at work.
Still don’t confess…
tighten, tighten, tighten…
still don’t give in.
And then, they knocked toothpicks under my fingernails.
Still don’t give in.
And then, they icily, pulled those nails out.
And if you like…
you can see it :
they are deformed…
and I can’t do much with those hands .
Even the big toes…they have pulled out the nails.
That was here at the Gestapo interrogation.
Marc Van Roosbroeck (chairman) : Thanks for this very courageous testimony.
Credits
Testimony by Evrard Voorpijls during the Last Witnesses – “De Laatste Getuigen” – book (ISBN 9789054877370) presentation by Marc Van Roosbroeck (chairman of vzw “De werkgroep 10 december 2008”) on 20 May 2011 in Tongeren , Belgium.
Transcript & Translation (20210525) by Michel van der Burg.
Gestapo Methods | Evrard Voorpijls | 20210520 2nd edition 20210521 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313
News
20210525 – English translation CC added in YouTube video. Both transcript (Flemish) and translation added in website post.
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