Secret Cemetery Hechtel

In early 1942, the German High Command decided to set up a secret place where death sentences could be carried out. The place had to be well hidden, preferably in the forest, and could not be reached by ordinary people. The former training ground of the Belgian army in Hechtel was found suitable and in May 1942 the first hostage was murdered in Hechtel.

The cemetery is close to the Hechtel Leopoldsburg runway. You have to turn off at the military pump house (a white house surrounded by a concrete wall). Then you come to a concrete track (Passage E) that belongs to the army, so do not leave this track! If you follow the track for a kilometer you will arrive at it. Again, don't be alarmed if you encounter a military vehicle, but definitely don't go further into the forest!

You go under an arch with 1940-1944 on it and on your right there is a sign with "Dune of the executed". Then you go further and you will see 4 posts to which the prisoners were tied, with a wooden wall behind them to stop the bullets. Then you continue walking and arrive at the graves.

It is estimated that 204 remains have been recovered, including 2 RAF crew members. Those two were members of the crew of a Lancaster LL762 that crashed in Herenthout. Hit by the Flak above Beverlo, they were thrown from the plane and found by the Germans and buried in the nearest cemetery in Hechtel. The rest of the Lancaster crew died in the crash and are now resting at the Heverlee War Cemetery.
For the rest, there would officially be no more remains in the cemetery. Everyone who died has been returned to their place of origin. There are still concrete crosses with the names on them.

Each grave (174) was given a QR code with which the story of each identified executed person can be retrieved.

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Source

• Text: Michiel Stinckens & Rene Torsin
• Photos: Rudi Triki (1), Michiel Stinckens (2, 3), Rudi Rasker (4, 5)