Letter from Louis Bastin, translated from French by prison teacher Hermann Pflüger, 14 December 1942 (excerpt)

NLA Abteilung Wolfenbüttel

In 1942, Louis Bastin joined the Front Wallon and distributed magazines and leaflets for this resistance group, including La Meuse clandestineThe Walloon Front was founded in August 1941 by anti-fascist intellectuals and activists. Its main activity was the publication of the underground newspaper La Meuse clandestine (The Meuse Underground). The sale of this newspaper enabled the establishment of a solidarity fund to support those living in illegality, prisoners, and their families., which the German occupiers had declared illegal.

Louis Bastin was arrested in October 1942. The verdict of 21 September 1942, stated:

“In the case of the accused Bastin, his communist attitude, his connections to leading communist personalities, his extensive activities within the organisation, and the fact that most of the co-defendants were induced by him to join or collaborate with the illegal organisations had to be taken into account.”

On 21 September 1942, Louis Bastin was sentenced by the Oberfeldkommandantur [High Command] 589 in Liège to five years in prison and the loss of civil rights due to “Bolshevik activities.” Georges Heydemann and André Charon, mentioned in the verdict, were each sentenced to three years in prison.

Louis Bastin was transferred from Saint-Léonard Prison in Liège via Aachen to the Wolfenbüttel Prison, where he began his sentence on 15 October 1942.

On 10 February 1943, the prison director of Wolfenbüttel Prison imposed a four-week solitary confinement. According to the testimony of the prison officer Lampe, Louis Bastin maintained his resistance stance as much as possible in Wolfenbüttel Prison. He put on record:

“This afternoon, the prisoner Kusch reported to me that the prisoner Bastien [sic!] was overjoyed about the fall of Stalingrad and performed a real dance of joy with the prisoner Noeldien [sic!] (Frenchman). Both also spoke contemptuously about the heroic resistance of our brave soldiers!! Bastin has recently proven to be a rebellious and spiteful person who incites his compatriots against us Germans and influences them negatively. […]”

The chief warden Willi Röbbeling deposed:

“The prisoner Bastin makes an untrustworthy impression, and I am convinced that he is the driving force and has a negative influence on the French and Belgian fellow prisoners with whom he comes into contact in communal detention or at the workplace. I consider it appropriate that B. be placed in solitary confinement.”

Louis Bastin’s imprisonment was scheduled to end on 30 August 1947. However, the Wolfenbüttel Prison was liberated by American troops on 11 April 1945, and he was able to return to Belgium in May 1945.

After the war, Louis Bastin worked for the Colonial Ministry in Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. He applied for recognition as a resistance fighter and political prisoner, and thus also for compensation. His father supported him in these applications. As a member of the Front Wallon, he was granted the status of “armed resistance fighter,” and in November 1948, he was awarded the status of “political prisoner.” Additionally, in 1954, he was recognised as a “resistance fighter through the underground press.”

Only the status of “civilian resistance fighter,” which he also applied for in 1954, was denied, as recognition as both a civilian and armed resistance fighter for the same resistance activity was not possible. Additionally, Louis Bastin received payments from the Bilateral Compensation AgreementBetween 1959 and 1964, the Federal Republic of Germany concluded bilateral compensation agreements with twelve Western European states. These agreements included lump-sum payments intended to settle all compensation claims. The distribution of the funds was the responsibility of the recipient state. (Globalabkommen) between 1962 and 1965. Thus, Louis Bastin’s resistance activities with the Front Wallon were fully recognised by the Belgian state.