François Ajlkichen (M / Poland, 1936), Holocaust survivor

François Ajlkichen (M / Poland, 1936), Holocaust survivor

< Dora Ajlkichen (F / Poland, 1926-1942), Holocaust victim >

Roza Ajlkichen Leibman (F / Poland, 1933), Holocaust survivor

• KEYWORDS : <Refugees> <Belgium> <Hidden Children> -- <Israel>

Biography

François (Efraim) Ajlkichen was born in 1936. Dora, Roza and Francois were the children of Kiwa Ajlkichen and Tcharna Fayga Fleichaker. They went to Belgium as refugees. After the Germans invaded Belgium in May 1940, the family fled by train to Auterive, Haute-Garonne, France with other refugees. They returned to Brussels in September 1940. In August 1942, Dora was deported and perished at Auschwitz. Roza and François were placed in a Christian orphanage in Longlier under the false identities of Rosa and François Demien. After Belgium was liberated in September 1944, the children were reunited with their parents in Brussels. They immigrated to the United States in 1951. Later François immigrated to Israel and Roza married Jacques Leibman, who was also a hidden child in Belgium.

USHMM

Roza Ajlkichen (later Rosie Ajlkichen Leibman) was born on 25 January 1933 in Opole, Poland to Kiwa Ajlkichen (b. 1895) and Tcharna Fayga Fleichaker (b. 1904). She had two sisters, Dora (1926-1942) and Ida (1930-1931), and one brother, François (later Efraim Ajlkichen, b. 1936). Kiwa was a tailor living in Brussels, Belgium when he met Tcharna, and after they married in 1925 they operated a clothing business there.

After the Germans invaded Belgium in May 1940, the family fled by train to Auterive, Haute-Garonne, France with other refugees. They returned to Brussels in September 1940. In August 1942, Dora received a letter conscripting her to forced-labor in Germany. She was deported on 15 August 1942. Kiwa and Tcharna then briefly paid money to a family outside of Brussels to hide Roza and François, but they were mistreated and only remained there for two months. The family managed to stay hidden in their house, only leaving at night for food and supplies. By 1943, many of their neighbors had been deported. After several failed attempts to place Roza and François in safe houses, Tcharna arranged for them to go to a Christian orphanage in Longlier under the false identities of Rosa and François Demien.

In the fall of 1943 the children were sent to the Château de Beloeil, a castle owned by the Prince of Ligne that was opened to orphaned children during the war. While she was there, she befriended Georges Bath, one of the counsellors there. She was baptized while in hiding, and he was her godfather. After Belgium was liberated in September 1944 Roza and François were reunited with their parents in Brussels. The family did not learn until after the war that Dora was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp where she perished. They immigrated to the United States in 1951 on the SS Île de France and settled in New York. François joined the United States Army and later immigrated to Israel. Roza married Jacques Leibman, who was also a hidden child in Belgium.