The Antwerp organisation Voor Het Joodsche Kind van Duitschland (For the Jewish Child from Germany) was established in November 1938. As the Brussels-based Comité d’Assistance aux Enfants Juifs Refugiés (Assistance Committee for Jewish Refugee Children, CAEJR), it was derived from an already-existing aid organisation: Oeuvre du Grand Air et de la Protection de l’Enfance (Work of the Open Air and the Protection of Childhood).
This organisation in turn reported to the Centrale, the umbrella organisation for Jewish aid organisations in Antwerp. The Antwerp Joods Weeshuis (Jewish Orphanage of Antwerp) and the Villa Altol, a holiday facility for Jewish children, were also part of the Centrale umbrella organisation.
David Siwa was appointed head of the committee Voor Het Joodsche Kind van Duitschland, his deputy being Jenny Fink who was originally from Germany. They were supported by volunteers. The organisation had its headquarters in 155 Lange Leemstraat, in the premises of the Centrale. Just like the Brussels Comité d‘Assistance aux Enfants Juifs Réfugiés (CAEJR), the Antwerp organisation arranged immigration to Belgium and accommodation for Jewish children, but only in the Antwerp area.
The first Kindertransport arrived in Antwerp on 24 November 1938. The children were collected in Brussels by helpers from Antwerp and then brought to the city. There they were welcomed by Jenny Fink and brought to 45 Avenue Margrave or entrusted to their foster families.
In December 1938, the Antwerp committee published an appeal to the Jewish population in Antwerp in the magazine La Centrale, the organ of its umbrella organisation. The organisers of the Kindertransport from Germany urgently appealed to the “Jews of Antwerp” for support. They informed the readers that one Kindertransport had already arrived and that more were about to set off. In this way foster parents for the children were sought, or at least people who were prepared to pay for a child’s stay. The Antwerp Jewish Orphanage at 133 Lange Leemstraat also agreed to provide placements for two boys.
Save the Jewish child!
Jews of Antwerp!
The government has given us permission to rescue a number of children from Germany who are threatened with moral and material destruction. A first transport has already arrived and has been placed. Further transports are being prepared. Make sure that these children do not have to wait a day longer than necessary in Germany to be rescued and that as many children as possible can come. Register to take in a child!
If you do not have the opportunity to do so, bear the cost of supporting a child. Don't wait, do it today!
© La Centrale, issue no. 12 December 1938
In total, the Antwerp committee organised seven Kindertransports from Germany and annexated Austria, the same number of Kindertransports as was organised by the CAEJR in Brussels. After the German invasion on 10 May 1940, the existing aid organisations for German refugees were also wound up in Antwerp. Some members of the committee were able to leave Belgium or survived in hiding. Others became victims of the Holocaust. One member, Dr. Anne Rosenzweig, became very active in the Comité de Défense des Juifs (Jewish Defense Committee, CDJ) during the German occupation. AP