Update (15 March 2016): I have come across a list on the website of the German ´Das Bundesarchiv´´s Memorial Book (see: www.bundesarchiv.de/gedenkbuch/chronicles.html.en?page=2).  I have merged their information (mainly the number of deported persons) with the information I have had before (on the website of ´Das Bundesarchiv´, you´ll find similar lists for The Netherlands and France).

I recently asked for a list of all transports which left the Mechelen/Malines kazerne (barracks) (Mechelen is the Dutch variant and Malines is the French variant of the name of the Flemish city which is about 25 kilometers south from Antwerp) during holocaust.

I wanted the overview so that I could place the names I received on some lists in the right context.

As I assume that there might be more out there with an interest in the list, I am publishing it here.

One transport to note is transport XX. Transport XX was attacked between Boortmeerbeek and Haacht (which is about 15km from Mechelen) by brave Belgians and thanks to these Belgians (Jean Franklemon, Georges Livschitz and Robert Maistriau) 231 deportees out of 1631 succeeded to escape the train. Out of the 231 escapees, 26 people died during the action which happened on 19 april 1943. You can read more about this episode on the following website: http://users.telenet.be/holocaust.bmb/.

Please note that you can find more about the list and transports in the following publications:

• Mecheln-Auschwitz 1942-1944′ Price EUR 170,- [ incl. VAT : excl. postage ] Sold Out (http://www.aspeditions.be//en-gb/book/MECHEL224C/mecheln—auschwitz-ward-adriaens-eric-hautermann-patricia-ramet.htm)
• Mémorial de la déportation des juifs de Belgique présenté par Serge Klarsfeld et Maxime Steinberg. Published 1982 by Union des déportés juifs en Belgique et filles et fils de la déportation, Beate Klarsfeld Foundation in Bruxelles, New York, NY.
• Websites on transport XX
  • The aforementioned website regarding the XX transport at http://users.telenet.be/holocaust.bmb/
  • From the city of Boortmeerbeek: http://www.boortmeerbeek.be/Het_XXste_konvooi

For more about the museum visit their website at http://www.kazernedossin.be where you can read the following introduction:

Of these 25,835 people, 576 escaped during the journey. 24,019 of the remainder would die: they were either gassed in Birkenau or died in the slave labour camp of Auschwitz or during the subsequent death march. Just 1,240 deportees – or less than 5% – returned to Belgium in May 1945. 32 Gypsies were among the survivors.
When war broke out, the Jewish population represented approximately 1% of the Belgian population. At the end of the war in 1945, 50% of all civilian casualties were Jewish.
The transportation of over 25,000 Jews and Gypsies was a German crime, carried out by the Nazis. However, their plan could not succeed without the cooperation of:

• the Belgian civil service that, as a whole, principally accepted the persecution of the Jews and within the framework of the law, cooperated with the occupier
• Belgian collaborating paramilitary parties and organisations who would present themselves as Jew hunters

This cooperation strongly contributed to the end result: a death toll of 44% of Jews. With this, the figures of the ‘Final Solution’ in Belgium lie between those of France (25%) and the Netherlands (80%).

Here is the list with the transportations: