Holocaust survivor Simon Gronowski, a wonderful man – there was a meeting and signing session today around his book "L’enfant du 20e convoi vers Auschwitz". And he also gave some short piano recitals in between the Q&A sessions.

Event of Librairie Filigranes - Avenue des arts 39 - 1040 Brussels

On 17 March 1943, Simon, aged eleven, was arrested by the Gestapo together with his mother and sister. All three were thrown into the Gestapo cellar on the Avenue Louise in Brussels and then interned in the Dossin barracks in Mechelen. A month later, on 19 April 1943, Simon and his mother were ordered to board a cattle car of the 20th convoy that was deporting more than 1,600 people to Auschwitz-Birkenau. At Boortmeerbeek, three young resistance fighters, Youra Livschitz, Jean Franklemon and Robert Maistriau, managed to stop the train and save seventeen people. Further on, in Limburg, at the urging of his mother, Simon also jumped out of the train and escaped death.