be-002157-kd 01031
type: RecordSet
archival history: The documents and objects in this collection, relating to Isaak Helfgott, were kept by his widow Bacia Faszczak. From several documents she removed her husband's occupation (cabin boy) aboard the St. Elwyn, the ship on which he went down. The documents and objects related to Eliezer Helfgott and Israel alias Simon Helfgott were kept by their mother Esther Pschetiska. She framed a newspaper article about Simon, but removed from the text a reference to the communist party. The framed clipping and medals hung on display in her home until her death, after which the items passed to her daughter-in-law Bacia Faszczak. Bacia left everything to her daughter Helena Helfgott, who in turn bequeathed the pieces to her daughter Tania Polak. Tania donated the original items to Kazerne Dossin on 4 June 2024. On 23 July 2024, she added Israel alias Simon Helfgott's military identity certificate issued on 28 May 1940 and the bank note.
biographical history: Jozef Ber Helfgott was born in Zakla, Austria-Hungary, on 16 January 1881. He became an accountant and emigrated to Belgium in 1910, settling in Borgerhout. Jozef found work as a cutter in the diamond industry and religiously married Esther Hanna Pschetiska (also Pschetizki). Esther was born in Mlawa, Poland, on 10 February 1894, and emigrated with her parents and sister to Belgium in May 1911, where she worked as a diamond cutter. After their marriage, Jozef Ber Helfgott and Esther Pschetiska lived successively at various addresses in Antwerp. Their last known address in Belgium during World War I is Van Immerseelstraat 28. Abraham, the eldest son of Jozef and Esther, was born in Borgerhout on 6 April 1913. Jozef and Esther officially married on 23 May 1916 in Antwerp. Six weeks later, on 9 July 1916, a second son named Isaak alias Jacques was born. The family then homesteaded to the Netherlands where a third son named Eliezer was born in The Hague on 9 March 1919. In April 1920, the family returned to Antwerp and settled at Van Immerseelstraat 32 in Borgerhout, where youngest son Israel alias Simon Helfgott was born on 10 May 1920. In June 1930, Jozef, Esther and the children moved to Jan de Laetstraat 31, where Jozef died on 27 August 1930 as a result of poisoning after mistakenly taking a tonic. Esther Pschetiska then continued to raise her four minor sons on her own. The Helfgott brothers attended communal schools, and were musically and athletically inclined. Eliezer was a member of the Zionist youth movement Betar, Israel of the communist Jewish youth movement JASK and of the communist party. Abraham, Isaak and Israel - all three born in Belgium - opted for Belgian citizenship when they came of age. Only Eliezer, who was born in the Netherlands, retained their father Jozef Ber's Polish citizenship. Before World War II, Isaak Helfgott married Bacia Faszczak, born on 29 May 1916 in Czestochowa, Poland. Their infant daughter Helena Helfgott was born in Antwerp i…
publication note: STEINBERG Maxime, L'étoile et le fusil. La traque des Juifs 1942-1944, vol. II, Bruxelles, 1986. MIEDZIAN Myriam, He walked through walls. A Twentieth-Century Tale of Survival, Brooklyn, 2009 [with information on the flight of the Faszczak family].
related material: A photo of the Helfgott-Pschetiska family is also part of the Hollander-Götz family collection (KD_00074).
accruals: No further accruals are to be expected.
conditions of access: Contact Kazerne Dossin Research Centre: archives@kazernedossin.eu
conditions of use: Contact Kazerne Dossin Research Centre: archives@kazernedossin.eu
has beginning date: 1930-01-01
has end date: 1978-12-31
has or had holder: be-002157
has or had some members with language: nld
has or had some members with language: eng
has or had subject: 800
has or had subject: 673
has or had subject: 1095
has record set type: Collection
identifier: KD_01031
record resource extent: 34 digitised images (13 documents, 1 photo, 1 newspaper clipping and 5 objects)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: This collection contains: a photocopy of a newspaper article on the death of Jozef Ber Helfgott in 1930 ; two M. Hohner brand harmonicas from the 1930s, played by Eliezer Helfgott and Israel alias Simon Helfgott ; a certificate of primary education awarded to Eliezer Helfgott, 1933 ; a pre-war photograph of Isaak and Bacia Helfgott-Faszczak, ca. 1938 ; identity certificate issued to Israel Helfgott as a soldier in the Belgian army after the surrender on 28 May 1940 ; part of Israel alias Simon Helfgott's wartime identity card and the purse in which this document was preserved by his mother Esther Hanna Pschetiska (also Pschetizki), 1942 ; two newspaper clippings published in “De Roode Vaan”, entitled “Dezen die gewroken moeten worden! Simon Helfgott” [Those who must be avenged! Simon Helfgott], one of which is framed and inscribed with the Belgian tricolour, 1945 ; three certificates of medals awarded to armed resistance fighters Eliezer Helfgott and Israel alias Simon Helfgott, 1956-1957 ; a frame containing five medals awarded after the war to armed resistance fighters Eliezer Helfgott and Israel alias Simon Helfgott ; five post-war documents relating to the death of Isaak Helfgott in the sinking of the merchant steamer St. Elwyn and relating to the payment of a pension to his widow Bacia Faszczak ; a photograph of a memorial wall in the UK in memory of fallen sailors including Isaak Helfgott ; a banknote to the value of 100 German marks.
title: Helfgott-Pschetiska family. Collection