Fort Breendonk, a fortification, a prison camp скачать в хорошем качестве

Fort Breendonk, a fortification, a prison camp

The German army invaded and occupied Belgium in 1940. Fort Breendonk was obsolete and was no answer to mechanized warfare. The fort was briefly the headquarters of the Belgian command during the first weeks following the invasion, but was abandoned in the face of German advances. The Nazis transformed Fort Breendonk into a prison camp. On September 20, 1940, the first prisoners arrived. Initially prisoners were petty criminals, people deemed anti-social, or trespassers of the new race laws. Later on, resistance fighters, political prisoners and innocent hostages were detained as well. Another section was used as a transit camp for Jews being sent to death camps such as Auschwitz. German as well as Flemish SS units guarded this camp. 185 prisoners were executed, and many others were transported to concentration camps. The execution poles and gallows are still there, as is a gruesome SS torture chamber. Contrary to popular belief, there were never any gas chambers at Fort Breendonk. Fewer than 4,000 prisoners in total were confined in Breendonk during its existence. Most of the non-Jewish prisoners were leftist members of the Belgian resistance or were held as hostages by the Germans. Several hundred people were murdered in the camp through torture, executions, and harsh conditions. In September 1941, the Belgian Communist prisoners were sent to the Neuengamme concentration camp. Jewish prisoners in Breendonk were segregated from other prisoners until 1942. Thereafter, Jews were transferred to the Mechelen (Malines) transit camp in Belgium, or deported directly to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. In total over 15 transports filled with mostly Jews left the camp; almost no one survived. http://studiomde.nl/