Memorial Train Convoy XX - Kazerne Dossin (Mechelen) - Auschwitz

On the town hall square, a monument commemorates the XX-th train convoy from the Dossin barracks to Auschwitz.

A gun, a storm lamp and some red paper. With this meager material, three young Brussels resistance fighters attacked a train on the Mechelen – Leuven railway line in Boortmeerbeek on 19 April 1943. This train, the so-called XXth Transport, transported 1,638 Jewish citizens to Auschwitz. In the end, 231 prisoners were able to escape. Of these, 90 were caught and put on the next transport; 26 persons were killed in their flight and 115 deportees succeeded in their escape. The attack is an important fact in the history of the Holocaust. After all, it is the only place in Europe where a liberation action was carried out on a Jewish transport during the Second World War

To commemorate this fact, a plaque was unveiled at Boortmeerbeek station in 1993. In 2005, this plaque was supplemented with a real monument.

The Ghent sculptor Etienne Desmet has designed a sober column made of Corten steel. The three hands on the column are a symbol of resistance, but also of hope and solidarity. In addition to being a reminder of an act of resistance, the monument also wants to be an indictment of all genocides in the world. Source: www.boortmeerbeek.be

Blauwkruikje