Yaakov Kurtz, Subsidized Community Housing

Yaakov Kurtz was born in 1936 to an ultra-Orthodox Jewish family in Antwerp, Belgium. As a boy, Yaakov attended religious school and Jewish institutions. In October 1940, about four months after the German invasion of Belgium, the Nazi administration passed a series of anti-Jewish laws. Jewish-owned businesses were seized and Jews were expelled from civil service positions.

In 1942, the “Final Solution” was announced and the persecution of Belgian Jews escalated. In May 1942, Jews were forced to wear a yellow Star of David patch to identify themselves in public. Nazis began deporting Jews to concentration camps, most of whom eventually arrived at Auschwitz. When German trucks came close to Yaakov’s family home, his dad took him and his brother out of school, cut off their peyot, and removed all of their religious symbols.

One day, when Yaakov’s mother was walking down the street, she saw German soldiers forcing Jews into trucks. She quickly hid Yaakov and his brother in a shoe store where they stayed until the trucks left. Members of the underground Jewish Defense Committee (made up of Christians, Communists, and Zionists from across the ideological spectrum) placed the remaining children (approximately 180) into an orphanage.

After some time had passed, German soldiers arrived at the orphanage to put the children on a train. When Elizabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Belgium heard about it, she demanded the children’s return, since the Belgian leadership had been promised that Belgian children would not be harmed. The underground committee was able to disperse them among different hiding places, among which were religious organizations, civil institutions, and private homes. Yaakov grew up in a monastery under a different name and studied Christianity. He spent his afternoons doing handicrafts.

After the war, Yaakov and his brother left the monastery. They came to Israel in 1948 with the help of the Youth Aliyah Movement.  Their parents perished in Auschwitz.  

Since 2003, Yaakov has been living in Reuth’s community housing, where he continues to cultivate his artistic abilities.