Whatagain in Breendonk

[whatagain]

Breendonk (pronounce brain donk) is a small village in Flanders.
Close to Antwerpen, which justified building a fort there early 20st.
A small detachment - i d say a battalion - would garrison it. It saw little action during WW1 as the Germans broke into Anrwerpen from another direction.
By WW2 ot was obsolete.
But hus second and infamous career started end of 40, as a prison run by nazis and ignomious belgian bastards in SS uniform.
3500 people went through this prison. About less than 200 were executed on the spot, a few more hundreds die if mistreatment and more than half of the remaining were sent to death in other concentration camps.

[whatagain]

The outer walls of the fort.
There used to be 5 meyers of soil all around but the nazis had it removed by the prisoners.
A pharaonic job with nearly no tools.

[whatagain]

Of course the entrance, has in 40, looks uninviting.
Trespassers will be shot says the sign.

The entrance looks gloomy. It is gloomy, dark and humid. 



Some private cells. No ensuite douche here... 

The beds. They would sleep 40 to 50 people per room.



The toilets. A survivor explains on tape how it was organized. Twice a day, with order to stop in front, then an order to lower their pants, then etc. 

[whatagain]

Up to there mortality came from hunger, mistreatment and cold mostly.
Tgings changed here - the torture chamber.
The prisoner would be hung by the arms, tied behind his back, would be lifted and dropped onto the wood.
On his knees. 
After a certain time usually his arms would crack and go in front of him. 


Usually after being tortured the worst offenders would find themselves in front of a firing squad. 

Or brought to these gallows. 

Of course they were given nice clothes. 
I, cintrary to these poor souls escaped right there. 

[kerouac2]

Definitely not the nicest place in the world. I'm not sure how many of these places should be preserved but we definitely need a certain number because younger generations would never believe that any of this ever happaned. It doesn't show up in their video games for some reason.

[whatagain]

My oldest visited Auschwitz with school.
Bith oldest - and myself - visited Breendonk around 13 also with school. Way too young...

[bjd]

Instead of schoolchildren, they should make politicians -- especially nationalists/farrighters -- visit these places and make them write essays about what it means.

[tod2]

Jun 1, 2022 17:26:49 GMT whatagain said:

Bith oldest - and myself - visited Breendonk around 13 also with school. Way too young...

I totally agree - Just thinking about my 13yr old grandson and what would he think about this horror place - Probably not too much might be impressed upon him - so a waste of time. Rather later in his late teens or early 20's with more understanding .