Weisz-Sztajnberg family. Collection

Digital copy available as collection KD_00190 at Kazerne Dossin Contact Kazerne Dossin Documentation Centre: archives@kazernedossin.eu Josef Weisz was born in Mukacevo, Czechoslovakia (today Mukacheve in Ukraine), on 22 April 1908. He and his parents migrated from Hungary to Belgium in 1928, following Josefs sister who had left for western Europe earlier. Josefs family opened a shop at Pelikaanstraat 126 or 127 in Antwerp where they sold radios, lighting and other electrical machinery. They were acquainted with the family of Blima alias Betty Sztajnberg who had been born in Piotrkow, Poland, on 14 July 1910. In 1913 Betty and her parents had migrated to Antwerp, where she went to school. During the First World War, Betty, her parents and sister fled to the United Kingdom where a fourth Sztajnberg sister was born, who was thus considered to be a British citizen. After the First World War, Betty and her family returned to Antwerp. Her parents separated. When Nazi-Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940, Josef Weisz rode on his bike to Agde, France, where he joined the Czechoslovakian army. Together with his fellow comrades he was then sent to the United Kingdom where he once again met Betty Sztajnberg who had fled Antwerp with her mother and sister, travelling to England via Biarritz, France. Josef and Betty then married in England and their two children were born there: Suzy in 1944 and her sister in 1946. The Weisz-Sztajnberg family returned to Belgium in 1947 and settled in Antwerp again, after which Josef was able to reclaim the shop his family owned before the war. This collection contains: documents regarding the service of Josef Weisz in the Czechoslovakian Army while in the United Kingdom during the Second World War ; correspondence (telegrams and postcards) from and to relatives in Belgium ; the diary of Blima alias Betty Sztajnberg who fled from Antwerp to the United Kingdom in 1940 with her mother and sister ; five photos, including pictures of Josef Weisz while serving in the Czechoslovakian army and pre-war photos of social and professional gatherings