For as long as I have been interested in WWII I have been astonished how collaborators have been considered heroes in some social circles in the country and how nobody ever talks about the resistance. It´s scandalous. Why don´t we honour the real heroes? Can you imagine this happening in France or the Netherlands?
Maybe finally something is changing. This opinion piece shows that some are doing an effort to bring attention to the injustice. I sincerely hope they succeed. Let´s erase this shameful situation! Give the good guys attention and denounce the bad people. It can´t be that hard.
Great article, but only available for subscribers
Pro-Verzet in De Standaard? Kranten doen alles voor clicks tegenwoordig. Straks krijgen we nog intellectuele discussies in HLN!
I always wonder what I would do, in hindsight there is no chance in hell that the Germans would ever win WW2 but in those days people saw the “one of the best if not most powerful” military in the world aka France get overwhelmed in a matter of weeks.
Hitler and Stalin were still sucking eachothers dick, the UK lost all of its heavy weapons and the US was doing the whole neutral spiel. All factors the Germans were quick to exploit in the newspapers.
At the start Belgium was governed by Von Falkenhausen and we ahem “didn’t have it that bad” compared to lets say Poland. But after a while the deportations of the jews and able bodied men for slavelabour started when Germany was starting to get its shit pushed in in Russia.
After the battle for the atlantic and the campaign in Africa was won by the allies more and more people started to resist in one way or another.
I would like to think I would do the same, try to stay out of sight the first years but as soon as the wind started shifting switch to a more active role, not blowing up bridges and cutting telephone cables because I know I aint brave enough for that kind of stuff, but I would try to do more covert stuff.
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But I would never ever rat on resistance members, and never ever collaborate, fuck those lowlives.
Ooit eens horen zeggen: “In Wallonië werden collaborateurs geëxecuteerd, in Brussel gearresteerd en in Vlaanderen gedecoreerd.”
The issue is that as with everything this was heavily politicized in belgium.
Both sides try to use what happened before, during and after the war as fuel for their propaganda.
Until everyone comes clean you really cant move on from that.
​
Btw: there are very few people that honor german collaborators , no idea where the author gets it that its something normal in belgium.
6 comments
Sorry, article/opinion piece only in Dutch.
For as long as I have been interested in WWII I have been astonished how collaborators have been considered heroes in some social circles in the country and how nobody ever talks about the resistance. It´s scandalous. Why don´t we honour the real heroes? Can you imagine this happening in France or the Netherlands?
Maybe finally something is changing. This opinion piece shows that some are doing an effort to bring attention to the injustice. I sincerely hope they succeed. Let´s erase this shameful situation! Give the good guys attention and denounce the bad people. It can´t be that hard.
Great article, but only available for subscribers
Pro-Verzet in De Standaard? Kranten doen alles voor clicks tegenwoordig. Straks krijgen we nog intellectuele discussies in HLN!
I always wonder what I would do, in hindsight there is no chance in hell that the Germans would ever win WW2 but in those days people saw the “one of the best if not most powerful” military in the world aka France get overwhelmed in a matter of weeks.
Hitler and Stalin were still sucking eachothers dick, the UK lost all of its heavy weapons and the US was doing the whole neutral spiel. All factors the Germans were quick to exploit in the newspapers.
At the start Belgium was governed by Von Falkenhausen and we ahem “didn’t have it that bad” compared to lets say Poland. But after a while the deportations of the jews and able bodied men for slavelabour started when Germany was starting to get its shit pushed in in Russia.
After the battle for the atlantic and the campaign in Africa was won by the allies more and more people started to resist in one way or another.
I would like to think I would do the same, try to stay out of sight the first years but as soon as the wind started shifting switch to a more active role, not blowing up bridges and cutting telephone cables because I know I aint brave enough for that kind of stuff, but I would try to do more covert stuff.
​
But I would never ever rat on resistance members, and never ever collaborate, fuck those lowlives.
Ooit eens horen zeggen: “In Wallonië werden collaborateurs geëxecuteerd, in Brussel gearresteerd en in Vlaanderen gedecoreerd.”
The issue is that as with everything this was heavily politicized in belgium.
Both sides try to use what happened before, during and after the war as fuel for their propaganda.
Until everyone comes clean you really cant move on from that.
​
Btw: there are very few people that honor german collaborators , no idea where the author gets it that its something normal in belgium.