FORT BREENDONK concentrationcamp in Belgium

**poele1968** · 09-16-2012, 08:22 PM

Here my visit at " Fort Breendonk ". That was a concentrationcamp in Belgium near Mechelen. From here were many man deported to other concentration camps.....

FORT BREENDONK concentrationcamp in Belgium

**hucks216** · 09-20-2012, 02:11 PM

They are some great photos taken of a place with a dark history.

**harry211** · 09-20-2012, 02:52 PM

sobering and poignant images. Thanks for sharing

**CARL** · 09-30-2012, 02:00 AM

Very nicely presented again poele, thank you for sharing them with us all.

Breendonk, although a fortress by nature, was used as a transit camp by the SS. Several thousand passed through during the war years, many of whom perished later, with their final destinations usually located in the Eastern death camps. The images above show many similarities to the structures and characteristics of Theresienstadt, another transit camp within the dark web that was the KZ system.

SS-Sturmbannführer Philip Schmitt, the Breendonk Kommandant, was the only German punished after the war. He was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death. Others were duly dealt with, though they were guards and staff of Flemish nationality, a fact that sat bitterly with their countrymen, on whom many guards had readily turned on after donning their black uniforms.

Located twelve miles southwest of Antwerp, the fortress was originally built during the early years of the twentieth century, as part of the Belgian defences in readiness of a German attack. In addition to the water filled moat, a five metre layer of earth covered the construction to prevent air raid damage. Briefly, the fort was utilised by the Belgian command during WWII, until the patent advance of the Wehrmacht overwhelmed all that stood in its path. After the Nazis decided to utilise the site as a prison camp, the first inmates began to arrive during September 1940. The prisoners were separated into the typically organised classes that were evident throughout all of the KZ camps, with anti-socials, political criminals etc being separated from the Jewish inmates, who were held in a separate transit sector from where they were later deported eastwards.

As shown in the images posted by poele above, an SS torture chamber existed at the camp, and although no gas chambers were actually present, the execution poles and gallows saw almost two hundred murdered by their SS masters. A young Jewish male, who was worked until near collapse before he was eventually beaten and thrown into the moat, finally drowned after 15 minutes of struggling in the water (he could not swim). This is but one tale of terror from the camp, where Kommandant Schmitt and his beloved German Shepherd Lump (shown below), used to terrorise the inmates on a daily basis. Although not known to the extent of Karl and Ilse Koch of KZ-Buchenwald, Schmitt and his wife were known for both handing out punishment whenever it pleased them, regardless of the plight of their prey. The prisoners were forced to remove the vast amount of soil that covered the structure by hand, a task that was both arduous and tedious, and transport it by hand cart several hundred metres away to where it was used to construct a large earth wall that hid the camp from view.

After the liberation in September 1944, the camp was known as Breendonk II, and housed collaborators who had assisted the Nazi occupiers.

Regards,

Carl

**Kraychete** · 09-30-2012, 02:58 PM

thanks to share

**CARL** · 01-12-2013, 01:59 PM

Below is an image of the Breendonk dwarf. An inmate who was known for his friendliness and jovial character. Unfortunately, the SS regularly singled him out for punishment, likely due to his physical characteristics. Eventually, he was killed by one of the guards, who picked him up before throwing him to the ground. As he lay there, the guard is reported to have said "Look at him, he looks like a little monkey". The only words for his passing.

Regards,

Carl