Bonus: Simon Gronowski's Escape from the 20th Convoy
We meet Simon Gronowski, a 92 year old jazz pianist, lawyer and Holocaust survivor. At the age of eleven, Simon was locked in a cattle wagon with his mother and around 50 other people after a month’s imprisonment at the Dossin Barracks in Mechelen for the crime of being Jewish. The train they had been herded onto was bound for the extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the 20th such mass deportation of Jews from Belgium. But this train trip would be unique in world war two. The 20th convoy became the only deportation train in the entire continent which was attacked and stopped by resistance fighters, allowing around a hundred people to escape. Simon Gronowski was one of these people and it is his story that we are going to explore in today’s episode.
Behind the scenes as we interview Simon Gronowski, with his grandson Romain assisting with translation. Photo by Dominique Reviglio.
Simon plays some jazz. Photo by Dominique Reviglio.
Romain DeNys, Joe Wegecsanyi, Simon Gronowski, Julian Smith and Dominique Reviglio.
The train car outside of Dossin Barracks, Mechelen. Photo by Dominique Reviglio.
Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.