International Conference on Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day:
"Historical Perspectives on Jewish Rescue in Belgium During the Holocaust"
Abusz Werber, A Founder of the Jewish Defense Committee
Abusz Werber (born in 1908 in Radom, Poland and died November 1975) was a leather-cutter by trade and a Zionist political activist by volition. He became the leader of Left Zionist Workers (Left Poalai Zion, or LPZ) in Radom and emigrated to Belgium in 1929, where he continued his political activism.
Highly motivated, Werber continued his education on his own while making a living in the footwear business. He became a journalist, writing in Yiddish for LPZ and other newspapers. He fled with his family to France due to the German invasion of Belgium on May 10, 1940, but returned in August in order to try to save what could be salvaged of the Jewish community.
With the leaders of the Poalei Zion having emigrated to the United States, Werber found himself the de facto leader of both branches of Poalei Zion: LPZ and its rival sister party, Tzeiri Zion (TZ).
In September 1940, he established the organization Mutual Aid along with his wife, brother-in-law, sister-in-law and others. Through Mutual Aid, they provided financial assistance to Belgian Jews interned in the south of France and helped them repatriate to Belgium. Mutual Aid operated for the duration of the occupation, providing financial assistance, clothing and false documents to thousands of Jewish people. He also promoted Jewish cultural and educational activities. In December 1941, Werber established Unzer Wort, a monthly Jewish underground publication in Yiddish. It served as the party organ of the PZ (essentially another incarnation of the LPZ) in Belgium, calling on the Jews to ignore German anti-Jewish orders and urging them to go underground.
Werber was one of the initiators of the Jewish Defense Committee in Belgium (CDJ). By March 1941, he had heard about the creation of the communist-oriented Belgian Independent Front (FI). In early 1942, following discussions with his LPZ comrades, he met with one of its non-Jewish representatives to propose some cooperation. Later on, Ghert Jospa, a Jewish communist; Emile Hambresin, a left-wing Catholic journalist; and Robert Mandelbaum, a member of the (communist-oriented) Jewish Solidarity met with Werber at his home and agreed on the creation of a Jewish section of the FI, which subsequently became the CDJ.
For Werber, like all members of the CDJ, the priority in the fight against the Nazi occupation was the rescue of children, whom they had to hide among non-Jews so that they did not fall into German hands. The CDJ set up a team in charge of rescuing children. This team consisted of Yvonne Jospa, Shifra Werber and Fela Perelman. They were all exposed to danger for their rescue activities, working closely with non-Jews. Werber was in charge of the CDJ’s false papers service in Brussels that created false identities for Jews in hiding, gaining the assistance of sympathetic employees of the townships to accomplish this.
The CDJ clandestine press consisted of two papers: one in French, Le Flambeau (The Torch), and Het Vrije Gedachte (The Free Thought) in Flemish. Both were addressed to a non-Jewish readership with the aim of making them aware of the plight of the Jews in Belgium. Werber was one of the founders of Le Flambeau, as well as one of its editors and editorial writers. It is estimated that the CDJ had 300 members. Werber survived the war and remained active in Zionist socialist circles, becoming the president of the Belgian section of the World Jewish Congress in Belgium following the war and his aliya to Israel in 1954. He died in Tel Aviv on Nov. 24th, 1975.
Abusz Werber (born in 1908 in Radom, Poland and died November 1975) was a leather-cutter by trade and a Zionist political activist by volition. He became the leader of Left Zionist Workers (Left Poalai Zion, or LPZ) in Radom and emigrated to Belgium in 1929, where he continued his political activism.
Highly motivated, Werber continued his education on his own while making a living in the footwear business. He became a journalist, writing in Yiddish for LPZ and other newspapers. He fled with his family to France due to the German invasion of Belgium on May 10, 1940, but returned in August in order to try to save what could be salvaged of the Jewish community.
With the leaders of the Poalei Zion having emigrated to the United States, Werber found himself the de facto leader of both branches of Poalei Zion: LPZ and its rival sister party, Tzeiri Zion (TZ).
In September 1940, he established the organization Mutual Aid along with his wife, brother-in-law, sister-in-law and others. Through Mutual Aid, they provided financial assistance to Belgian Jews interned in the south of France and helped them repatriate to Belgium. Mutual Aid operated for the duration of the occupation, providing financial assistance, clothing and false documents to thousands of Jewish people. He also promoted Jewish cultural and educational activities. In December 1941, Werber established Unzer Wort, a monthly Jewish underground publication in Yiddish. It served as the party organ of the PZ (essentially another incarnation of the LPZ) in Belgium, calling on the Jews to ignore German anti-Jewish orders and urging them to go underground.
Werber was one of the initiators of the Jewish Defense Committee in Belgium (CDJ). By March 1941, he had heard about the creation of the communist-oriented Belgian Independent Front (FI). In early 1942, following discussions with his LPZ comrades, he met with one of its non-Jewish representatives to propose some cooperation. Later on, Ghert Jospa, a Jewish communist; Emile Hambresin, a left-wing Catholic journalist; and Robert Mandelbaum, a member of the (communist-oriented) Jewish Solidarity met with Werber at his home and agreed on the creation of a Jewish section of the FI, which subsequently became the CDJ.
For Werber, like all members of the CDJ, the priority in the fight against the Nazi occupation was the rescue of children, whom they had to hide among non-Jews so that they did not fall into German hands. The CDJ set up a team in charge of rescuing children. This team consisted of Yvonne Jospa, Shifra Werber and Fela Perelman. They were all exposed to danger for their rescue activities, working closely with non-Jews. Werber was in charge of the CDJ’s false papers service in Brussels that created false identities for Jews in hiding, gaining the assistance of sympathetic employees of the townships to accomplish this.
The CDJ clandestine press consisted of two papers: one in French, Le Flambeau (The Torch), and Het Vrije Gedachte (The Free Thought) in Flemish. Both were addressed to a non-Jewish readership with the aim of making them aware of the plight of the Jews in Belgium. Werber was one of the founders of Le Flambeau, as well as one of its editors and editorial writers. It is estimated that the CDJ had 300 members. Werber survived the war and remained active in Zionist socialist circles, becoming the president of the Belgian section of the World Jewish Congress in Belgium following the war and his aliya to Israel in 1954. He died in Tel Aviv on Nov. 24th, 1975.
