Clara Cal | »Ich bin ganz allein mit drei Pferden« | self-evidence | Belgium (under German military administration) | Dec. 16, 1942 | voi_00012
Rights held by: Clara Leónie Cal | Provided by: State Archives of Belgium (Brussels/Belgium) | Archived under: Ministry of Justice / Public Safety / Immigration Police / Dossier Clara Léonie Cal [also written as ‘Kall’] / 7 203 688 / p. 171
[December 1942]
I’m all alone
with three horses and a
cart. No one helps me
or does anything for my husband, who is locked away in prison
because he stood up for his freedom.
Léonie Cal
Poste restante Visé [Wallonia, Belgium]
Tongeren
I am pregnant and the little one is arriving in around 14 days.
Set my husband free so he can help me.
[Dezember 1942]
Ich bin ganz allein
mit drei Pferden und einem
Karren. Niemand kommt mir
zu Hilfe oder unternimmt
etwas für meinen
Mann, der für die Freiheit im
Gefängnis sitzt.
Léonie Cal
Postlagernd Visé [Wallonien, Belgien]
Tongres
Ich bin schwanger
und die Kleine kommt vielleicht
in 14 Tagen.
Entlassen Sie meinen Mann in Freiheit,
um mir eine Unterstützung zu geben.
[Decembro 1942]
Me sem korkori trine grastenca thaj me vordonesa.
Khonik na ažutil man vaj kerel vareso mire rromeske, savo si phanglo ko phanglipe kaj mardaspe peskere hakajenge.
Léonie Cal
Poste restante Visé [Wallonia, Belgium]
Tongeren
Me sem khamni thaj o tikno si musaj te bijandol pala e 14 divesa.
Muken oles pe slobodija te šaj te ažutil ma.
Rights held by: Clara Leónie Cal | Provided by: State Archives of Belgium (Brussels/Belgium) | Archived under: Ministry of Justice / Public Safety / Immigration Police / Dossier Clara Léonie Cal [also written as ‘Kall’] / 7 203 688 / p. 171
The despair of a mother left alone
Clara Léonie Cal, born in Tarcienne (Belgium) on 14 January 1925, approached the Immigration Police in December 1942 to request the release of her husband, Zolo Karoli, imprisoned in the prison in Rekem (Limburg) since 19 October 1942. About to give birth, Cal had to look after her son Xavier, born on 13 July 1941, all by herself and keep the business going – the Cal families were involved in horse trading. On 16 December 1942, the director of the Immigration Police, Robert Standaert, had her letter filed away with the official remark that Clara Cal’s parents could help her.
On 18 March 1943 she gave birth to her son Louis Joseph. Six weeks later, her husband was released. The whole family was arrested in Tournai (Belgium) in November 1943 and sent to the transit camp in Mechelen, from where they were deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp. Her husband and both her sons died there. Clara Cal was one of the 32 survivors of a group of 351 persons deported to Birkenau after raids throughout Belgium and northern France in the autumn of 1943. Upon her return, she was entirely alone. Her confiscated possessions were not returned to her, nor did she receive any compensation for her imprisonment and the loss of her family. She died in a sanatorium in Bonheiden on 29 January 1959, aged just 34.
