be-002157-kd 00043
type: RecordSet
archival history: Rachel Sadowski-Coryn visited Kazerne Dossin during its opening week in December 2012. She was so kind as to provide the documentation center with pictures of her parents and copies of documents she collected from government institutes. Both photos are now part of the commemoration wall at Kazerne Dossin.
biographical history: Rachel Sadowski was born in Etterbeek, Brussels, in 1929. Her parents, Joseph Sadowski and Ida Brawerman, were both hat makers. The couple had emigrated from Russia to Belgium in July 1920. Ida was heavily pregnant and a daughter, Esther Dina Sadowski, was born in the Belgian capital two months later. With the birth of a third girl, Anna, in 1939, the family was complete. Even before the war, oldest daughter Esther Dina had become a popular actress under the name Dounia Sadow. Although she was Jewish, she still worked at a theater in Brussels, when, in December 1941, she was denounced and she lost her job. On 14 December 1943, Esther Dina Sadowski was arrested. At the Dossin barracks, she was forced to cite poems during spectacles organised for the camp staff, but she also performed for her fellow prisoners. Esther Dina Sadowski was released from the Dossin barracks on 14 February 1944. Queen Elisabeth had intervened on her behalf, since she was a well-known actress and having converted to Catholicism. After the war, Esther Dina Sadowski continued her acting career. She played in several postwar movies and died in 2015. Joseph Sadowski and Ida Brawerman were arrested in June 1944 and were deported from the Dossin barracks via Transport XXVI to Auschwitz-Birkenau in late July. Joseph Sadowski vanished upon arrival. A postwar testimony placed Ida Brawerman at the Hemstedt-Beendorf camp in January 1945. However, she did not survive. Joseph Sadowski and Ida Brawerman had placed their two youngest children, Rachel and Anna, in hiding in 1942. Both girls thus survived the war. Rachel Sadowski later on married René Coryn and still lives in Braine-l'Alleud. No further information regarding youngest sister Anna Sadowski is available.
location of originals: Coryn-Sadowski family, Private collection, Braine-l'Alleud
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Digitally stored at Kazerne Dossin
accruals: No further accruals are to be expected
conditions of access: Contact Kazerne Dossin Documentation Centre: archives@kazernedossin.eu
conditions of use: Contact Kazerne Dossin Documentation Centre: archives@kazernedossin.eu
has beginning date: 1939-01-01
has end date: 1965-12-31
has or had holder: be-002157
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had some members with language: fra
has or had subject: 112
has or had subject: 519
has or had subject: 496
has record set type: Collection
identifier: KD_00043
record resource extent: 56 digitised images : mostly photocopied documents from the Belgian State Archives
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: This collection contains a photo of Joseph Sadowski and Ida Brawerman, parents of the donor ; a postwar testimony from a fellow prisoner of Ida Brawerman regarding her last sighting in the Beendorf concentration camp ; an administrative document regarding German postwar payments to the Sadowski family ; a letter from Anna Sadowski to “Sinterklaas”, asking for specific gifts at the traditional children's feast on 6 December, written on paper with the letterhead of her parents’ company ; photocopies of documents regarding the deportation of Joseph Sadowski and Ida Brawerman, the originals stored at several Belgian archives (available at the Kazerne Dossin documentation center only).
title: Sadowski-Brawerman family. Collection