Print - The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network - Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives

Physical Description: Letter : Paper : typed, printed : Ink : black, white ; Ht: 27 cm x W: 21.2 cm

Physical Description: Letter : Paper : typed, printed : Ink : black, white ; Ht: 27 cm x W: 21.2 cm

Notes: Document has been folded horizontally and vertically. The letter, is dated May 26th 1944 in Brussels and bears the signature stamp of the Nazi party. The documents states that Icek Rabinowicz and Mindla Elgarten are part of a German-Palestinian exchange and exempt from the measures against Jews. Narrative: Donor is the son of Icek Rabinowicz and Mindla Rabinowicz (born Elgarten). Mindla was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1923 and immigrated to Brussels with her family in 1926. Icek was born in 1919 in Ciechanow, Poland and immigrated to Belgium with his family at the age of 10. The two met through a Jewish youth group. They survived the war in Belgium by concealing their Jewish Identity and carrying false identification papers. They were also both members of the Belgian Resistance movement where they distributed false identification papers to other Jews in Belgium. They married in Brussels in 1946 and had two children, Daniel and Élise Rabinowicz. They immigrated to Canada in 1951, settling in Montréal, where Icek found work in his profession as a pursemaker. Mindla later went to University and obtained a degree as a translator. Mindla had two younger siblings and only her brother survived by hiding at a clergy house. Her sister was arrested by Germans and sent to a concentration camp where she was presumably killed.