Hey fellow Belgians! Time for a bit of local history!
Did you know that the Breendonk Fort, former WWII prison camp now turned Memorial, only ever saw *one* prisoner escape?
Max Kaufman was a German Jew who fled to Belgium in the 1930s out of fear of the Nazi regime. During World War II, he was arrested and imprisoned in the infamous Fort of Breendonk. After eight weeks of deprivation, he managed — as the only prisoner ever — to escape from the fort, then went into hiding.
Max even recounts his escape in a letter to his sister:
“…Somehow, I managed to cross the courtyard unnoticed, without being seen by the guards. While crawling and sliding, I reached the wide moat surrounding the fort. Once I had crossed it, I still had to cross the large open plain where guards were also walking around. Fortunately, they did not see me. I quickly put on a jumper over my prison uniform and ran to a forest a few kilometers from the fort…”
After his liberation, Max would testify against the Nazi executioners of Breendonk at the so-called ‘Mechelen trial.’
1 comment
Hey fellow Belgians! Time for a bit of local history!
Did you know that the Breendonk Fort, former WWII prison camp now turned Memorial, only ever saw *one* prisoner escape?
Max Kaufman was a German Jew who fled to Belgium in the 1930s out of fear of the Nazi regime. During World War II, he was arrested and imprisoned in the infamous Fort of Breendonk. After eight weeks of deprivation, he managed — as the only prisoner ever — to escape from the fort, then went into hiding.
Max even recounts his escape in a letter to his sister:
“…Somehow, I managed to cross the courtyard unnoticed, without being seen by the guards. While crawling and sliding, I reached the wide moat surrounding the fort. Once I had crossed it, I still had to cross the large open plain where guards were also walking around. Fortunately, they did not see me. I quickly put on a jumper over my prison uniform and ran to a forest a few kilometers from the fort…”
After his liberation, Max would testify against the Nazi executioners of Breendonk at the so-called ‘Mechelen trial.’
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