Louise Maitre was born in 1907 in Dixmuide, Belgium, as the daughter of Jean and Marie Bomboulo. The day and month of her birth, like the dates of her parents’ lives, are not known. Together with her partner, the basket weaver Théodore ‘Isidoor’ Colombus (1903–1944), she had four children: Joseph Maitre (1924–unknown), Rosa Maitre (1925–unknown), Jules Maitre (1933–unknown) and Alfred Colombus (1941–unknown).
As Louise Maitre was registered as stateless by the Belgian authorities from birth, the story of her persecution can be reconstructed using the files of the aliens police. The dossier on her begins in 1931 and shows that she was issued several ‘reiswijzer’/‘feuilles de route’ over the next eight years. These were documents with photographs and fingerprints that were valid for three months; they certified that the holder was staying in a locality, but did not guarantee authorisation to remain indefinitely.1Algemeen Rijksarchief (ARA), Aliens Police, Individual Dossiers, A.38.163, Dossier Louise Maitre, doc. 170, 303. During this time, Louise went by various names, including Marie Trena, presumably to avoid police harassment.
Arrest, Escape, Deportation
On 7 May 1940, Louise Maitre was arrested for not having identity papers. After imprisonment in the prisons of Tongeren, Luik and Vorst, the aliens police lost track of her. She was probably able to escape in the confusion of the German invasion of Belgium on 10 May 1940. In August 1940, she sent a postcard from Toulouse, France, to the aliens police, enquiring about her family.2Ibid., doc. 152. In December 1941, Louise Maitre gave birth to her youngest son Alfred in Faumont, France.
In February 1942, she was living in Belgium again, where she was issued a ‘Gypsy card’ [‘Zigeunerkaart’] on arrival. In the early summer of 1943, she paid several visits to her eldest son Joseph Maitre, who was being held in the Rekem internment camp.3Ibid., 1245, Doc. 7102 N. 74/C/4/15: Bezoekersvergunningen teruggestuurd aan de V.P. door het bestuur van het Interneeringscentrum te Rekem. On 23 November 1943, Louise Maitre was arrested in Tournai and the rest of the family in Doornik and taken to the ‘SS transit camp’ in the Dossin barracks in Mechelen. There she was registered together with her partner Théodore Colombus and her three sons Joseph, Jules and Alfred and on 15 January 1944 they were deported on ‘Transport Z’ to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp.
Louise Maitre was registered by the SS (Schutzstaffel) in the camp under the name Luise Golobnix.4Heddebaut, Des Tsiganes vers Auschwitz, 187. In spring or summer 1944, she was transferred to Ravensbrück concentration camp and was then deployed in forced labour in Wolkenburg, a satellite camp of Flossenbürg concentration camp. She was taken to Ravensbrück again on 12 January 1945.
It is not known in detail whether Louise Maitre subsequently passed through other camps or where she was liberated. Buchenwald concentration camp is also mentioned in the files of the aliens police; she may have been held for a time in one of the Buchenwald satellite camps.
After the Liberation
Louise returned to Belgium in June 1945 and received a new ‘Gypsy card’.5ARA, Aliens Police, Individual Dossiers, A.38.163, Dossier Louise Maitre, doc. 74. Her husband Théodore Colombus had died in Buchenwald on 13 October 1944. Her sons did not survive the camps either. What happened to her daughter Rosa Maitre is not known.
In 1948, Louise Maitre demanded the return of her confiscated property in Tournai. Her request was granted and she was taken to the school where her caravan had been stored. However, it was in such a poor condition that she could no longer use it.6Heddebaut, Des Tsiganes vers Auschwitz, 247.
From 1949, Louise Maitre lived permanently in Belgium with her new partner, the Auschwitz survivor Herman Taicon (1920–unknown).7ARA, Aliens Police, Individual Dossiers, A.404.227, dossier of Herman Taicon, doc. 233, 234, 266, 267, and A.38.163, dossier Louise Maitre, Renouvellement de carte de nomade, doc. 116,17. She was still considered a stateless person and had to carry a ‘Gypsy card’. This meant that she continued to be closely monitored by the Belgian authorities. In 1960, with the help of a lawyer, she endeavoured to obtain compensation in Germany, but ultimately no application was made. Louise Maitre died on 6 December 1961 in Leuven.
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