Transport E2 from Caserne Dossin (Malines-Mechelen), Camp, Belgium to Vittel, Camp, France on 20/06/1944

Transport E2 from Mechelen to Vittel left on June 20, 1944 and comprised 43 deportees (24 women and 19 men). It was the third smallest transport that left Mechelen. It included solely Jews who had been marked as "borderline cases". Their identity, specifically, their status with regard to citizenship and deportation required further investigation. For this reason the camp registry did not designate a number for them but the letter "E" for German "Entscheidungsfälle" (borderline cases). Unlike most of the other internees who stayed only a few days, the "E-Jews" stayed for weeks or months in Mechelen. The 43 deportees on transport E2 arrived that same day (on June 20). The Jews from Mechelen were placed under house arrest but could move freely within the premises. Transports E2 included British and US subjects, as well as nationals from south American states, but also German and Polish nationals with “promesas”, i.e. entry visas from various countries in the Americas. Hannah Magnus, née Rothschild, was originally from Hamburg and had immigrated with her parents and siblings to Belgium. At the age of 15 she was arrested together with her mother on March 28, 1944 in Leuven and brought to Mechelen the next day. She was treated as a borderline case since her mother could prove that she was a Haitian citizen. Hannah Magnus recalled in her post war testimony: "On June 20 there was a roll call for all the 'E'-cases. All the foreigners were called. We learned from the camp commander that we were going to an internment camp, but he didn’t tell us where. My mother heard about Bergen-Belsen and Vittel. She asked a clerk in Mechelen where the transport was going and Commander Johannes Frank asked everybody if they had any questions. Her mother wanted to know if it was possible to arrange for her three other children to join the transport. They had been brought to a children's home in Brussels that was run by the AJB. Frank agreed and then added that joining their mother on this transport was preferable to a transfer to Mechelen "since in any case Mechelen was no place for children and that he hoped that we would remember him as the 'mother of Mechelen'". When the train stopped in Brussels the children were already waiting to join the transport....