Interview with Danny Vanhouwe, son of Hector Vanhouwe

Gedenkstätte Wolfenbüttel, 2024

Hector Vanhouwe joined the B.V.L.The “Belgian Liberation Army” was a Belgian resistance group during the Second World War. The group originated in Christian circles in Liège and had branches in Antwerp, Ghent, Aalst, and Dendermonde. – Bevrijdingsleger in March 1941 after being approached by the local police officer Alfons de Grauwe.

He smuggled packages containing weapons, hid them, and distributed leaflets. In September 1942, the 19-year-old and other members of the resistance group were arrested by the GestapoThe Gestapo, the Secret State Police of the Nazi regime, was the political police during the Nazi era.. In his memoir, written for the Berlare Historical Society in November 1987, Hector Vanhouwe recalled the arrest:

“30 September 1942. The ‘Gestapo’ strikes in Berlare! House searches, manhunts, arrests, and interrogations lead to the arrest of two well-known citizens from Berlare and their transfer to a collection point in Lokeren. […] Panic in several families. In those days, Berlare was teeming with grey uniforms.”

Heem- en Oudheidkundige Kring V.Z.W. Berlare: Zesmaandelijks Tijdschrift. 5. Jaargang Nr. 2-November 1987. S. 3.

 A total of 120 members of the B.V.L. – Bevrijdingsleger resistance group were arrested in Belgium in September and October 1942.

Via Ghent and the Bochum PenitentiaryThe sentence of penal servitude was imposed as a prison sentence for criminal offences along with the loss of civil rights. The milder prison sentence was imprisonment. Under the Nazi regime, the punitive measures imposed in penal servitude, particularly forced labour and deprivation, were significantly intensified., Hector Vanhouwe was eventually transferred to the Esterwegen Concentration CampDetention centres established from March 1933 in the Reich territory and later in the occupied territories, initially for opponents of the Nazi regime, whose daily life was marked by arbitrary violence and terror. The Gestapo was responsible for the internment of concentration camp inmates, using the instrument of so-called protective custody. The inmate community was subject to an internal camp hierarchy and was increasingly used for forced labour in the German armaments industry from 1942 onwards. Thousands of inmates fell victim to the Nazi programme of “extermination through labour.”. In his memoir, he initially describes a sense of relief and optimism:

 “Finally free from those eerie cells, from loneliness and lice.”

Quelle: Heem- en Oudheidkundige Kring V.Z.W. Berlare: Zesmaandelijks Tijdschrift. 5. Jaargang Nr. 2-November 1987. S. 15

However, this better condition only lasted for a short time. In November 1943, he was finally brought to Wolfenbüttel Prison:

“It was a very limited transport of about 50 prisoners. […] After a three-day journey, we were brought to the prison in Wolfenbüttel, not far from the city of Brunswick in central Germany. Frightened, we, 50 emaciated prisoners, were directed to a room with showers. […] We were locked up three to a cold, damp cell. Here in Wolfenbüttel, there was a deadly silence.”

Quelle: Heem- en Oudheidkundige Kring V.Z.W. Berlare: Zesmaandelijks Tijdschrift. 5. Jaargang Nr. 2-November 1987. S. 20.

Some of the prisoners still supported each other, and friendships developed. For example, the Norwegian inmate and “Night-and-Fog”At least 7,000 people suspected of resistance from France, the Benelux countries, and Norway were deported to the German Reich and imprisoned there following the “Night-and-Fog”-Decree of 7 December 1941. They were completely isolated, given a number instead of their name, and were not allowed to contact relatives, fellow prisoners, or the outside world. Many died in custody or were sentenced to death and executed. prisoner Wilfred Jensenius drew a card for Hector Vanhouwe’s 22nd birthday. Although the inmates were forbidden to receive information from outside the prison, they learnt about the Allied invasion of Normandy. Some had managed to build a radio and followed the Allies’ advance. This raised hopes of liberation among the inmates. However, before the liberation of the Wolfenbüttel Prison by US troops on 11 April 1945, the NN prisoners were transferred to the Brandenburg-Görden Penitentiary.

“As the Americans and British advanced deeper into Germany in the spring of 1945, we were transported again. Sometimes by train, but mostly on foot, the survivors finally ended up in the Brandenburg Penitentiary near Berlin via Magdeburg. These last transports were inhumanly miserable. Those who could no longer keep up with the days-long marches were shot on the spot.”

Quelle: Heem- en Oudheidkundige Kring V.Z.W. Berlare: Zesmaandelijks Tijdschrift. 5. Jaargang Nr. 2-November 1987. S. 20

The Brandenburg-Görden Penitentiary was liberated by Soviet troops on 27 April 1945. On 3 June 1945, Hector Vanhouwe returned to Belgium. After his imprisonment, he maintained contact with former fellow inmates, such as the Norwegian Gustav Johan Fagerthun.

The political prisoners returned to Berlare as heroes with great public participation, 1945

Privatbesitz Danny Vanhouwe

Christmas greeting to Hector Vanhouwe from the former Norwegian fellow inmate Gustav Johan Fagerthun, December 1945

Privatbesitz Danny Vanhouwe

Hector Vanhouwe was – like André Charon – a member of the Belgian survivors’ association Amicale des Prisonniers Politiques Rescapés de WolfenbüttelFormer Belgian inmates of the Wolfenbüttel Prison founded a survivors’ association of political prisoners in 1948. The association served its members as a platform to exchange experiences of persecution and imprisonment and as a representative body for social and medical assistance, the enforcement of compensation claims, and societal recognition as a victim group.. In this association, former inmates exchanged their experiences of imprisonment and discussed how they could receive social and medical assistance. They also jointly advocated for the enforcement of compensation claims.

In December 1947, the Belgian Ministry of Defence awarded Hector Vanhouwe the status of an “armed resistance fighter.” In June 1948, he also received the status and title of a political prisoner. The decision on his application states:

“The applicant can claim the status of a political prisoner;
The applicant is entitled to the title ‘Political Prisoner.’
He was imprisoned from 28.9.42 to 4.6.45, either a total of 981 days or 32 full months of 30 days or six periods of 6 months of imprisonment.
He is entitled to extraordinary compensation […] He is entitled to additional compensation equivalent to six periods of six months of imprisonment.”

Recognition of Hector Vanhouwe as an armed resistance fighter, 1947

Belgisches Nationalarchiv. Statut bewaffneter Widerstandskämpfer,

F1944, Box Nr. 3225

Danny Vanhouwe, son of Hector Vanhouwe, is deeply engaged with his father’s imprisonment. In 2023, he visited the memorial site at Wolfenbüttel Prison with a Belgian delegation as part of a pilgrimage. Belgian survivors’ associations regularly conduct memorial trips to prisons and former concentration camps, tracing the paths that the prisoners had to take.

For Danny Vanhouwe, it is important to keep the memory of the Belgian resistance fighters of World War II alive.

Danny Vanhouwe in the former execution building of Wolfenbüttel Prison, 2023

Gedenkstätte Wolfenbüttel