Hava Jospa-Groisman
1910-2000
Yvonne Jospa, born Hava Groisman, saved around 2,500 Jewish children from deportation as head of the Children's Section of the Jewish Defence Committee. After the war, she continued her work with refugees and became a key figure in Belgium’s anti-racism movement.
Hava Groisman—later known by her married name Yvonne Jospa—was born in Bessarabia and came to Belgium as a student in 1928. In 1933, she earned a degree in social work in Brussels, married Hertz Jospa, and joined the Communist Party.
Even before the war, she was active in the League Against Racism and Antisemitism. As a social worker at the ULB’s Institute of Sociology, she supported refugees from Nazi Germany and Austria, as well as children fleeing the Spanish Civil War.
During the occupation, she supported her husband Hertz in founding the Jewish Defence Committee (Comité de Défense des Juifs, CDJ) in September 1942. She herself headed the CDJ's Children’s Section, which managed to save around 2,500 Jewish children from deportation.
Even after the liberation, Yvonne Jospa remained tireless in her efforts. As a social worker for the United Nations refugee organisation, she helped war victims. In 1964, she co-founded the Association of Jewish Former Resistance Fighters of Belgium, later becoming its honorary president. She was also a key figure for decades in the Belgian anti-racism organisation MRAX (Mouvement contre le Racisme, l’Antisémitisme et la Xénophobie), remaining active until her death in 2000.
Since 1993, a street in Brussels bears her name.
Source:
- Cegesoma/BelgiumWWII – Groisman Hava (Yvonne Jospa)​
belgiumwwii.be
​