Memorial Mrs. and Mr. Rasschaert-Buyle

The municipality of Berlare has inaugurated a memorial plaque for Emilie Buyle and Frans Rasschaert in Lindestraat in Overmere. In 1942, at the risk of their own life and that of their family, they took in a Jewish child in their home.

The information board tells the story of Anatole Brawerman who had to go into hiding as a child because he was of Jewish descent. In the Christmas season of 1942, his mother had placed him with the Rasschaert family to prevent him from being sent to a concentration camp. Brawerman was barely 10 years old, to stay under the radar of the Germans he was given a new name: Jean Van Bergen.
It was the intention that in January 1943 he would be brought back to Brussels by Frans Rasschaert to go into hiding with his mother.
Fate wanted mama Luba Pupko to be denounced and arrested by the German occupier before his return to Brussels. She was taken to the Dossin barracks in Mechelen.
In April she was deported to Auschwitz where she was murdered on arrival.
The Rasschaert couple had no doubts, they would continue to educate the Jewish boy as if he were their own son. He learned "Overmeers", went to school and took his solemn communion in the church of Overmere.
After the liberation in the fall of 1944, "Jean" was reunited with his father, who was a soldier in England. They went to live in Brussels, but Jean returned to Overmere regularly. In 1955 he married Anne-Marie Rasschaert and went on to be known as "Jean Brawerman".

At the request of Jean, now 87 years old, a memorial plaque was hung on the house in Overmere in lasting recognition for their courage and commitment.
Because of their heroic and disinterested actions, Frans and Emilie were already posthumously awarded the title "Righteous among the peoples" by the Israeli Institute Yad Vashem on August 7, 2000. Their names were inscribed on the memorial in Jerusalem.


Source: Berlare - press release, March 15, 2021

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• Text: Marie-Christine Vinck
• Photos: Marie-Christine Vinck