FOR THE HISTORY: The Brussels Rabbi describes the wandering of recent days, by A. Reporter 

Rabbi Chaim Zvi Kruger, the Rabbi of the Orthodox community in Brussels is among the refugees that fled from Hitler’s sword and his men, and have arrived in New York, after a year of wandering. Soon after Hitler came to power, Rabbi Kruger immersed himself, flesh and soul, as a volunteer, in the work of assistance that the Joint operated in Belgium. And a year ago, when the Hitler hordes launched into Belgium, Rabbi Kruger had himself to take the traditional Jewish wandering cane, abandon his home and books in God’s hands, and flee where fate carried him.

“On the road,” Rabbi Kruger said, “low flying German destroying planes rained down bombs, and with machine guns shot at the train that we travelled, that caused many fires, and blocked the road forward and behind, so that we could not flee nor turn back. People fell right and left.

“At every step, before us and behind us, on all sides, we saw only death and destruction! But, the whole time, not for a minute did we lose hope that God would help rescue us from the deadly fear, and we praised the heavenly God! We finally arrived at the safe shore. 

The Disaster

“I will never forget May 12 [sic],” Rabbi Kruger said, “for on that day the evil one began to bomb Brussels. There are no words to describe the shock and the panic. In order for you to have an idea what happened on that day, I have to tell you about the Silberberg family.

“Mr. Silberberg was an important Brussels homeowner. A few days before the tumult, he held an engagement ceremony for his daughter, to whom the groom had brought a diamond ring. The ceremony actually took place in my home. It was a very joyous event, and we celebrated until dawn of the next day.

“And four days later, the whole Silberberg family with hundreds of other Jews and thousands of non-Jews were fleeing in panicky fear under the hail of bombs. I and my family and the sexton of our congregation were also in flight.

“Suddenly, the bride and her mother were killed,” the Rabbi continued to tell. “The father bent down, and buried his wife and daughter and covered them up with soil. Thus they were swallowed up and disappeared forever. Then a German plane explodes and digs a deep tomb under his feet. The father grabs the daughter by the hand and drags her with all his force, and his eyes are all bewildered. His wife and daughter are already covered up. But in his hand he holds something clamped up, and on the finger – a ring… precisely the ring that the groom had presented to his daughter a day earlier, during the engagement ceremony.

“But fear overwhelms. No one can stop, and we flee further.”

In Bordeaux, Rabbi Kruger met Mr. Silberberg’s son saying Kaddish after his mother, also his sister, and also for his father. Later, the whole family disappeared somewhere. 

Catching the Rabbi praying and wanting to shoot him

“We travel by train, and over our head the Hitler destroyers are hovering,” Rabbi Kruger continues to tell. “Bombs explode. Cities and villages are up in flames, and the voices of the train passengers crash through all heavens. Time goes by slowly; it’s getting late. I have not yet prayed. What is there to be in a hurry with praying? I have anyway decided to fast. It’s already 1 o’clock in the afternoon. I take out a Tallit and phylacteries [Tefillin] and stand aside to pray with a bitter heart.

“Suddenly, the train stops, and Frenchmen run inside to control the passengers. I and my sexton are with Tallit and Tefillin and continue to pray. Suddenly, one exclaimed: “Here are spies with radio apparatus, sending signals to the enemy!” And he points to us with a finger and on the head Tefillin.

“I argue that these are religious objects for Jews who pray to God. But my pleas are of no avail. No one listens to the weeping of my wife and my children. They lead us, me and my sexton out of the train car, and place us against a wall to be shot. I want to take off the Tefillin and show them that it only contains written papers. But they don’t even listen to what I am saying. They are frightened of the Tefillin and don’t allow me to touch them with my hands.

After a minute another Frenchman appeared, seemingly a high official, and someone had reported to him and pointed out the "spies" that they had caught, and the radio apparatus on their heads and hands. The high official looked at it and ordered the Rabbi to cut open the Tefillin, and after inspecting them, he said: “These are religious objects.”

“The interrogation lasted several hours. We had therefore to wait for another train. Only late at night did we continue toward Rouen. On the way, around 2 in the evening, we saw our previous train burning.

A Christian architect, one of the survivors, who had fled with the Rabbi from Brussels and witnessed the suffering done to him, came up to him in Rouen and said: “Now, I see truly that the Jewish God is a God, because you served him, he arranged that you not travel with the train that was destroyed and saved you from death.” 

Jews! The Joint is Here

“The greatest miracle, however, is the Joint,” Rabbi Kruger continued. “You, in America think that the Joint is big because it arranges meals for the hungry, or clothing for the naked. But I tell you that you know nothing about the Joint and what it does. Under the greatest danger, when the knife is already on someone’s throat, when the last ray of hope is about to be extinguished, one hears the good news: Jews, don’t worry! The Joint is here! Now, we are all saved!

“From the people that the Joint sends over to Europe, it spreads such warmth, such brotherhood. Their very presence brings hope and security into the frightened hearts of our unfortunate brothers.

The Portuguese Consul

"I met this man in Bordeaux. I had to see him for a visa to Lisbon. But he immediately declared that no Jews may receive any visas. He was a devout Catholic, but not an antisemite. Then the situation of the refugees deteriorated, and he could not ignore their suffering. Suddenly he decided to grant visas to everyone. Myself and my family he took with him into his house, although he himself had thirteen children. In the end, he lost his post. In government circles they said of him that he had gone crazy.” 

Rabbi Kruger again met the dismissed Consul in Lisbon, and they embraced like old good friends. “You know,” the Rabbi said, “he even took a photo with me, this very Consul.  And he himself assured me that he does not care that they took away his post. “If so many good Jews can suffer from one evil Christian, then one Christian may suffer for so many Jews. It does not bother me. I could not have acted otherwise.”