Muur proces van Breendonk

The Breendonk fort is a Belgian fort at Willebroek, approximately 15 kilometers from Mechelen. It was used by the Nazis as a labor camp and transit camp during World War II. It is the only such camp in Western Europe that has remained completely intact. After the war Fort Van Breendonk was decorated as "National Memorial of Fort van Breendonk". In the repression during the initial period after the liberation, thousands of "blacks" and alleged collaborators were arrested. Because the prisons did not offer sufficient space, empty barracks and the fortress of Breendonk itself were also used. The repression, in turn, was very cruel. This encourages reflection on issues such as justice and human rights and how both can sometimes conflict with each other. On March 5, 1946, the trial against the 'executioners' van Breendonk started in Mechelen. The trial took two months. Sixteen of the 23 defendants were sentenced to death by court-martial and executed against the old city wall on the Tinel site.