Gaza War Disrupts Secret WWII Hero Tribute; 19 Lives Saved

Boortmeerbeek (Eurotoday) – The annual commemoration of the Jewish transport liberation in Boortmeerbeek was significantly scaled back this year due to ongoing tensions between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. On April 19, 1943, three Belgian resistance fighters courageously stopped a deportation train en route to Nazi concentration camps, successfully liberating nineteen Jewish prisoners.

This year’s ceremony, which traditionally brings together relatives of survivors, members of the Jewish community, and local officials, was limited amid heightened security concerns. The Belgian Coordination Body for Threat Analysis (OCAD) advised a complete cancellation of public gatherings, citing potential risks of terrorist attacks targeting Jewish events.

“According to OCAD, the Coordination Body for Threat Analysis in our country, bringing together a group of Jewish people creates ‘soft targets’ for terrorists. Safety could not be guaranteed,”

explained Mayor Michel Baert (SAMEN).

Despite the restricted format, the municipality held a moment of silence attended by aldermen, veterans, and alumni from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB).

“There was also a bike ride from the monument of the executed in Schaerbeek to Boortmeerbeek. That mirrors the route taken by the three resistance fighters during World War II.”

Descendants of the original rescuers also attended the pared-down event, preserving the memory of one of Belgium’s most remarkable acts of wartime resistance.

What is the historical and security context behind the scaled-back commemoration?

The 20th Jewish deportation train left Belgium for Auschwitz in April 1943, but near Boortmeerbeek, it was intercepted in a unique act of European resistance against the Holocaust. Resistance members Youra Livchitz, Robert Maistriau, and Jean Franklemon heroically stopped the train, enabling the escape of 17 to 19 Jewish prisoners, depending on historical sources.

Out of 1,631 individuals aboard the train, only 145 survived the Holocaust. Since 1993, Boortmeerbeek has held annual remembrance events, attended by survivors’ descendants, Jewish leaders, and Belgian officials.

Recent years have seen growing threats to Belgium’s Jewish community, which numbers approximately 30,000. According to OCAD, antisemitic incidents increased by 63% from 2022 to 2023, largely driven by the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent Gaza conflict.

Belgium currently operates under a Level 3 terror alert—the second-highest on a four-tier scale—due to concerns about Islamist extremism. OCAD specifically flagged Jewish public events as potential “soft targets,” and in 2023, security services successfully foiled a planned terrorist attack on Jewish institutions in Brussels.

Although Boortmeerbeek has no recorded instances of antisemitic violence, authorities decided to restrict access to this year’s ceremony in accordance with national security recommendations.

Elsewhere, Holocaust memorial sites such as Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen also heightened security measures, despite an absence of recent local antisemitic incidents. The Belgian government allocates €15 million annually to protect Jewish institutions and communities—an ongoing commitment shaped by the country’s World War II history, during which it deported approximately 25,000 Jews to Nazi death camps.