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March in Brussels’ Marolles district to remember 718 Jews arrested on Sept. 3, 1942
🇧🇪 Belgium /Crime & Justice

March in Brussels’ Marolles district to remember 718 Jews arrested on Sept. 3, 1942

From La Libre Belgique · () French

Translated from French and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • A march in Brussels’ Marolles district will commemorate the Sept. 3, 1942, roundup of 718 Jews during the German occupation.
  • Organizers want the event to involve non-Jewish residents and extend remembrance beyond the Jewish community.
  • The march will include artistic performances and stops at sites linked to the deportees’ memory.

A march through Brussels’ Marolles district will retrace the memory of the 718 Jews arrested there on Sept. 3, 1942, in the main large-scale roundup carried out by the German occupiers in Brussels.

The initiative comes from director Richard Kalisz, actor Sam Touzani and filmmaker Luc Dardenne. Kalisz said he wanted to act for remembrance late in his life, prompted by what he described as the return of openly expressed antisemitism. “I experienced an antisemitism that was taboo, hidden by the Shoah. Now it no longer hides,” he said.

I experienced an antisemitism that was taboo, hidden by the Shoah. Now it no longer hides.

— Richard KaliszThe director explained why the organizers wanted to stage the remembrance march.

Kalisz’s parents escaped that roundup after leaving for Switzerland because they anticipated the fate the Germans intended for Jews. The Marolles had been home to many Jews who had fled Germany and parts of Eastern Europe, making the neighborhood the setting for one of the darkest episodes in Brussels’ wartime history.

The main idea of the march is to go beyond the insular community and involve non-Jews. Memory can endure only if it reaches non-Jews.

— Richard KaliszKalisz described the organizers’ aim of broadening participation in Holocaust remembrance.

The organizers have named the event “The Saying of the Dead to the Living.” The procession will leave the Breughel centre at about 7 p.m. and travel along Rue des Tanneurs to the Palais du Vin. It will stop at Entr’Aide sociale des Marolles, the Théâtre des Tanneurs and the Palais du Vin. Around 10 prominent artists will evoke the deportees whose names appear on memorial cobblestones in the street. Yitskhok Katzenelson’s poem “The Song of the Murdered Jewish People,” written after three years of resistance in the Warsaw ghetto, will also be performed.

Historian Chantal Kesteloot said the Sept. 3 roundup marked the beginning of the hunt for Jews in Belgium for deportation. Jews had been confined to the country’s four main cities. The organizers say remembrance can endure only if it reaches beyond the Jewish community and involves non-Jews.

It is the beginning of the hunt for Jews in Belgium for deportation.

— Chantal KestelootThe historian characterized the historical significance of the Sept. 3, 1942, roundup.
About this summary

Originally published by La Libre Belgique in French. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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