On 13 February 1997, James Tannenbaum kindly donated the two photocopies in this collection to the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance, predecessor of Kazerne Dossin.
Mieczyslaw Tannenbaum was born on 25 January 1910 in Rzeszow, Poland, as the son of Jacob Tannenbaum and Paula Eberson. In 1927, Mieczyslaw immigrated to Belgium via Hannover, Germany, and Leiden, the Netherlands. In Belgium, Mieczyslaw worked as a nurse. He married Liza Sternberg, who was born in Antwerp on 24 July 1907. At the outbreak of war, Mieczyslaw worked for the Red Cross. During the war, he and his wife Liza first lived at Vestingstraat 40 in Antwerp, and, as of October 1941, at Avenue Royal 218 in Brussels. Mieczyslaw became a resistance fighter, joining the Comet network for which he smuggled British and American airmen, shot down over Belgium or the Netherlands, to southern France where they could cross the Pyrenees into Spain. Mieczyslaw survived the war, and was honored for his rescue work by the British and the American authorities.
James Tannenbaum, private collection
Only photocopies of the original documents were obtained.
Additional documents on the Tannenbaum family can be found in collection KD_00386.
No further accruals are to be expected.
Contact Kazerne Dossin Research Centre: archives@kazernedossin.eu
2 digitised images (2 photocopies)
This collection contains : a photocopy of a certificate issued post-war by American president Dwight D. Eisenhower to Mieczyslaw Tannenbaum, for helping allied soldiers escape to Spain via the Comet Network ; a photocopy of a certificate issued post-war by the British Air Chief Marshal to Mieczyslaw Tannenbaum, for helping British soldiers, sailors and airmen to escape to Spain via the Comet Network.
Mieczyslaw Tannenbaum. Collection