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Youra Livchitz

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Youra Livchitz
ca. 1943
Nickname(s)Georges
Born(1917-09-30)September 30, 1917
Kiev, Russian Republic
DiedFebruary 17, 1944(1944-02-17) (aged 26)
Schaerbeek, Belgium
Cause of deathFiring Squad
AllegiancePartisans Armés
Known forAttack on the twentieth convoy
Battles / warsWorld War 2
Alma materFree University of Brussels
RelationsHis brother Alexandre was also a Resistance combatant

Youra 'Georges' Livchitz (September 30, 1917 – February 17, 1944) was a young Jewish doctor who was a member of the Belgian Resistance and was one of three members who attacked a Nazi convoy to free Jews on a Holocaust train.

Biography

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Livchitz's parents were Jewish immigrants from Kishinev, then part of the Russian Empire, who had moved to Munich in 1910, where they had his older brother Alexnadre. His father would then graduate from medical school in 1913. World War I would then drive his family to Kiev, where they had Youra on September 30, 1917.[1][2]

In 1928, Livchitz's parents separated and soon after his mother brought the two sons to Brussels, Belgium. His mother became engrossed in theosophy circles and joined intellectual circles, which were also frequented by his younger friends and future comrades Jean Franklemon [fr] and Robert Maistriau. It was in these circles that Youra would become connected with several left wing intellectuals before graduating from Free University of Brussels with a degree in medicine.[1][3][4]

Prior to World War II, Livchitz was a representative for the Belgian pharmaceutical company Pharmacobel. He would retain work with them up until his arrest. He would be a regular at the parties of Marcel Hastir, due in part to the Livchitz brothers sitting as models for the artist on occasion.[1]

World War II

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By 1942, Livchitz had become active in the Belgian resistance movement and was affiliated with the Front de l'Indépendance.[5][6] He began teaching underground courses and secretly publishing a war journal, these activities would introduce him to his lover, Jacqueline Mondo.[7] His friend Marcel Hastir, had gained permission from the Germans to open a workshop in 1940, but this was a front for harboring Jews and facilitating a meeting place for Belgian resistance members; the Livchitz brothers used its cellar to print their anti-Nazi leaflets on Hastir's roneo machine.[8]

ca. pre 1943

Leading up to the attack on the train, Livchitz's older brother Alexandre, a member of the Partisans Armés, had suffered two gunshot wounds while attempting to assassinate a high level Nazi collaborator.[9][10]

On April 19, 1943, Youra Georges Livchitz, along with his two Belgian friends, Jean Franklemon [fr] and Robert Maistriau, attacked a train of cattle cars full of Jews headed for Auschwitz with 1,631 Jews aboard, being the only attack against the deportation trains in the entirety of the war.[11][12][13] The group selected an area that was outside of the city but within biking distance, their leader Livchitz ensuring that they would have the cover of night to assist them.[14] By reaching out to childhood friends, Livchitz was able to contact Groupe G and receive a Browning Model 1906 for the mission.[1] They stopped the train by the station in Boortmeerbeek from Mechelen placing a red piece of paper over a hurricane lamp to simulate a red signal lantern in front of the rails and then, armed with pliers and a pistol, broke into one of the stock cars.[15][16] Livchitz held the train engineer at gunpoint while his two compatriots went to free the captives.[17] 231 people were able to get out of the stock car while getting fired upon, 115 of these people successfully escaped.[18] After a brief shooting battle between the German train guards and the three Resistance members, the train started again.[19]

After the attack on the train, Livchitz stayed with Jacqueline Mondo's parents while recovering from a gunshot wound he sustained during the attack.[20] During this period, on April 27, 1943, Livchitz attempted to assassinate the Nazi collaborator Icek Glogowski, a man who had sent hundreds of his fellow Jews to be liquidated, but failed due to his gun jamming.[21] Worried for his associates, on account of increasing police scrutiny, he tried warning his teammates; but the man who was sent to pass the information on, Pierre Romanovitch, was actually an informer for the Gestapo. He and his hosts, who were also members of the resistance, were arrested a month after the train attack on May 14, 1943.[2][7][22]

While imprisoned, Livchitz was able to escape the Gestapo headquarters by overpowering his guard and stealing his uniform. This new freedom was short lived, as he and his older brother were arrested on June 26, 1943 by the Feldgendarmerie as they were planning to cross to England.[22] They had made arrangements to sneak out of the country via a delivery truck headed to France.[20] Their arrest was the result of another betrayal as their driver brought them directly to the Gestapo.[23]

Both of the Livchitz brothers were imprisoned and sentenced to execution, Alexandre on account of attempting to kill a Nazi police chief and Youra due for various resistance activities.[20] Both brothers wrote letters to their mother while imprisoned, after being sentenced to execution. Both brothers wrote of their lack of fear in the face of execution.[24]

Livchitz, refusing to wear a blindfold, was executed by firing squad on February 17, 1944 at Schaerbeek's National Shooting Range.[22][25][26] He was executed a week after his brother had been killed by the firing squad.[23]

Legacy

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Livchitz and his compatriots were memorialized at the Bois de la Cambre with their names placed on plaques as part of a Holocaust memorial on January 27, 2023.[27] The main plaque of their memorial was defaced a year later with a swastika as part of a wave of antisemitic attacks and incidents in 2024.[28]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Schreiber, Marion; Spiegel, Paul; Whiteside, Shaun (2003). Silent rebels: the true story of the raid on the twentieth train to Auschwitz. London: Atlantic Books. ISBN 978-1-903809-89-1.
  2. ^ a b Steinberg, Lucien (1978). The Jews Against Hitler (not as a Lamb). Gordon & Cremonesi. ISBN 978-0-86033-061-5.
  3. ^ Hope, Alan. "Three Belgian resistance heroes honoured with a statue". www.brusselstimes.com. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
  4. ^ Brachfeld, Sylvain (2007). A Gift of Life: The Deportation and the Rescue of the Jews in Occupied Belgium (1940-1944). Institute for the Research on Belgian Judaism. ISBN 978-965-90939-3-9.
  5. ^ Cesarani, David (2016-11-08). Final Solution: The Fate of Jews, 1933–1949. Macmillan + ORM. ISBN 978-1-250-03796-1.
  6. ^ Neuman, Henri (1985). Avant qu'il ne soit trop tard: portraits de résistants : Altenhoff, Burgers, Ewalenko, Leclercq, Mahieu, Pineau, Vekemans, Wendelen, et les autres-- (in French). Editions Duculot. ISBN 978-2-8011-0549-8.
  7. ^ a b Gronowski, Simon (2005). L'enfant du 20e convoi (Nouv. éd. rev. et corr ed.). Bruxelles: Luc Pire. ISBN 978-2-87415-531-4.
  8. ^ "Mensch 2007 : Marcel Hastir, un artiste héroïque". CCLJ - Centre Communautaire Laïc Juif David Susskind (in French). 2008-02-05. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
  9. ^ Schreiber, Marion (2005-02-11). The Twentieth Train: The True Story of the Ambush of the Death Train to Auschwitz. Grove Press. ISBN 978-0-8021-4185-9.
  10. ^ Abramowicz, Manuel (2005). Guide des résistances à l'extrême droite: pour lutter contre ceux qui veulent supprimer nos libertés (in French). Editions Labor. ISBN 978-2-8040-2149-8.
  11. ^ "Jews Who Saved Jews in Belgium during the Holocaust | Yad Vashem". www.yadvashem.org. Retrieved 2025-03-05.
  12. ^ The Spectator. Indiana University: F.C. Westley. 2003.
  13. ^ Laporte, Christian (1993-04-16). "DEPORTES SAUVES PAR L'AUDACE DE TROIS JEUNES PARTISANS". Le Soir (in French). Retrieved 2025-03-06.
  14. ^ Rappaport, Doreen (2012-09-11). Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust. Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-2976-2.
  15. ^ Stilwell, Alexander (2024-12-15). Secret Operations of World War II. Amber Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-83886-622-8.
  16. ^ Poplaski, W. E. (2007). 360 Degrees of Reading. Dog Ear Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59858-379-3.
  17. ^ Bartrop, Paul R. (2024-07-25). The Holocaust in 100 Histories. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-43514-8.
  18. ^ ""REMEMBER ME WITHOUT SORROW"". 70 Voices. 2015-01-27. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
  19. ^ Williams, Althea (2013-04-17). "Escaping the train to Auschwitz". BBC News. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
  20. ^ a b c Deem, James M. (2015). The Prisoners of Breendonk: Personal Histories from a World War II Concentration Camp. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-544-09664-6.
  21. ^ Schreiber, Marion (2000). Rebelles silencieux: L'attaque du 20e convoi pour Auschwitz [Silent Rebels: The Attack on the 20th Transport to Auschwitz] (in French) (Lannoo Uitgeverij ed.). Berlin. ISBN 978-2873864538.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  22. ^ a b c Bensimon, Agnès (2024-01-25). "Belgium, 19 April 1943: the attack on the 20th convoy". Jews, Europe, the XXIst century. Retrieved 2025-03-05.
  23. ^ a b Steinberg, Maxime; Schram, Laurence (2008). Transport XX: Malines-Auschwitz. Bruxelles: Éditions du Musée juif de la déportation et de la Resistance : VUBPress. ISBN 978-90-5487-477-5. OCLC 276566658.
  24. ^ Neudt, Dany (2025-02-11). "Heroes of the 20th Deportation Train Honoured on Cyclocross Course | Vrije Universiteit Brussel". www.vub.be. Retrieved 2025-03-05.
  25. ^ Résistance, Belgium Commission de l'Historique de la (1948). Livre d'or de la résistance belge (in French). Leclercq.
  26. ^ Dr. Georges - Youra Livschitz - Livchitz, a member of the Jewish underground in Belgium, retrieved 2025-03-06
  27. ^ Walker, Lauren. "Brussels unveils new Holocaust memorial plaques and paving stones". www.brusselstimes.com. Retrieved 2025-03-05.
  28. ^ Lempkowicz, Yossi (2024-06-17). "Plaque commemorating WWII resistance fighters target of antisemitic act in Brussels". EJP. Retrieved 2025-03-05.
[edit]
  • Youra Livchitz letter to his mother prior to his execution
  • Yad Vashem page
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