BREENDONK FORT NATIONAL MEMORIAL Type: Physical memorial Added:
1/5/2010 10:22:14 PM Updated: 1/5/2010 10:38:35 PM Breendonk is
a small town in Belgium, population 3,000, halfway between
Brussels and Antwerp. From the 20th century on it was best known
for its fortification, built in 1909. During World War II the
fort was briefly used as the General Headquarters of King
Leopold III, leading the Belgian armed forces. After his
surrender to the Germans it was transformed into a concentration
camp by the Nazis (primarily as a transit camp for transport to
Auschwitz). It gained a grim reputation as a place of torture
and interrogation of a wide variety of prisoners. Amongst those
to be incarcerated there were the linguist Herman Liebaers,
fencer Jacques Ochs, Communist Party of Belgium politician Bert
Van Hoorick and anti-Nazi fascist Paul Hoornaert. The fort is
now home to the "Breendonk Fort National Memorial" which
provides a historical record of the Nazi terror in Belgium. This
museum is referenced for its his