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Simon Gronowski’s Great Escape from the 20th Nazi Convoy
10 January 2024
Meet Simon Gronowski, a 92-year-old jazz pianist and lawyer from Brussels, and, above all, a Holocaust survivor who escaped from a deportation train to Auschwitz.
Holocaust Past Meets Modern Amsterdam in Steve McQueen Documentary ‘Occupied City’
6 December 2023
12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen takes us on an amazing, meditative journey through Amsterdam in Occupied City. His documentary shows how the Second World War has shaped the contemporary face of the Dutch capital.
Why the Belgian Resistance Deserves More Attention
6 May 2020
The importance of the resistance during World War II doesn’t form part of the Belgian collective memory. The political and moral legacy of those who resisted the German occupier has been largely forgotten. That’s remarkable, as the resistance represents an impressive achievement. It deserves a m
Etty Hillesum: a Life Interrupted, a Spirit Unperturbed
6 May 2020
In 1981, nearly forty years after she was killed in Auschwitz, Dutch Jewish Etty Hillesum found fame overnight after her diary entries were published in Het verstoorde leven (An Interrupted Life). Her diary notes, which she jotted down in occupied Amsterdam, are a testament to strong personal develo
The History of the Second World War Must Not Become a Safe Past
30 April 2020
The unresolved past of the Second World War still casts its shadow over Belgium and the Netherlands. In 2020, remembrance has replaced history as the dominant way of working through our feelings about the war. This duty towards remembrance lulls us into a false sense of security, according to histor
The World Was Drinking and Whoring
20 April 2020
Can we view 1945 as the zero point of the world we live in today, 75 years later? Certainly, much for which a framework was created at the time – from the welfare state to economic growth, from the moral manifestation of universal human rights to international alliances – is under threat today.
Remembering the V2 Attack on Cinema Rex
17 December 2019
Thousands of people walk down Antwerp’s De Keyserlei every day. But almost no one stops to look at the plaque set in the pavement outside the modern UGC Cinema. Unveiled in 2009, it is the only reminder of the deadliest rocket attack of World War Two. On 16 December 1944, an unmanned V2 rocket wa
75 Years Ago the Nazis Took Revenge on the Allies with the V1 and V2
9 October 2019
During the liberation at the beginning of September 1944, most Belgians thought the war would be over by the end of the year. They didn’t realize that the Germans were still holding secret weapons: the V1 and V2 rockets. Exactly 75 years ago, on 13 October 1944, the first V1 fell on Antwerp. This
