Eva Fastag (3 April 1917 – 12 August 2021[1]) was a Polish-born Holocaust survivor and resistant.[2] During World War II, she was interned at the Mechelen transit camp.[3]
Eva Fastag | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 April 1917 |
| Died | 12 August 2021 (aged 104) Israel |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Occupation(s) | Resistant, secretary |
Biography
editFastag was born in Warsaw on 3 April 1917. In 1919, her family moved to Antwerp. She attended a Dutch-language primary school and studied humanities in French. She began working as a secretary for a shipping company and later for an insurance company. The only Jewish employee, her boss continued to allow her to work as long as she did not wear the Star of David. However, she was deported from Antwerp while leaving a train from Brussels on 27 July 1942 and sent to Fort Breendonk, where she worked as a secretary thanks to her German language ability and work experience. She was sent to Mechelen in the 1st convoy of 4 August 1942, where she wrote a list of names of the deportees. Fastag was released on 9 June 1944, three days after the Normandy landings, as part of a prisoner exchange with Germans in Mandatory Palestine.[4][5][6]
In 2008, Fastag wrote a letter to Simone Veil regarding her experience.[7] In 2019, she testified in Pieter Serrien's book De Laatste Getuige - Eva Fastag: Hoe ik de Dossinkazerne en de Holocaust overleefde to ensure the memory of the Holocaust lives on.
Eva Fastag died in Israel on 12 August 2021 at the age of 104.[8]
References
edit- ^ Serrien, Pieter (12 August 2021). "Afscheid van Eva" (in Dutch). Retrieved 16 August 2021.
- ^ "Antwerpse verzetsheldin Eva Fastag (104) overleden: "We verliezen een van de laatste getuigen van de gruwel in Kazerne Dossin"". Gazet van Antwerpen (in Dutch). Antwerp. 12 August 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
- ^ Steinberg, Maxime (2004). La persécution des juifs en Belgique (1940-1945) (in French). Éditions Complexe.
- ^ Le fort de Breendonk : le camp de la terreur nazie en Belgique pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale (in French). Lannoo Uitgeverij. 2006.
- ^ "Commémoration du convoi XX à Boortmeerbeek". Judenlager des Mazures (in French). 14 April 2006. Archived from the original on 27 February 2007. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
- ^ "Eva Fastag- Dobruszkes (3 april 1917) – secretaresse Aufname". telenet.be (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
- ^ "P. 229. Lettre d'Eva Fastag à Simone Veil". Le Judenlager des Mazures 1942-1944 (in French). 17 April 2008.
- ^ Arnoudt, Rik (13 August 2021). "Eva Fastag (104) overleden: beklijvend verhaal van typiste Dossinkazerne, die eigen familie niet kon redden". VRT (in Dutch). Antwerp. Retrieved 16 August 2021.