Memorial Gendarmerie Barracks Dendermonde

A bronze plaque (Jos De Decker) hangs at the Gendarmerie Barracks in Dendermonde, which was unveiled on the facade on 15 June 1946 by Lieutenant General Dethisse.

"Without fear and without blame
Passer-by remember

Goossens Marcel
Janzegers Gaston
Buysse Georges
Vangeel Julien

Watch masters at the Rijkswachtbrigade Dendermonde
Members of B.V.L.
Murdered in German torture camps

Thanks to their sacrifice, Belgium lives on "

These four men worked as guards at the Gendarmerie brigade in Dendermonde. In mid-1941 they joined the Belgian Volunteer Legion (B.V.L.), the resistance group of Dom Anselmus. As a result of betrayal, all four were consumed
Arrested on 26 September 1942 by the Geheime Feldpolizei (GFP) and imprisoned in the Nieuwewandeling prison in Ghent.
On March 22, 1943, all four of them were taken to Germany.

Marcel Goossens was sentenced to death on October 20, 1943 by the II Senat des Volksgerichtshof. He was then transferred to Zuchthaus Brandenburg-Görden, where he was beheaded on November 22, 1943.

Gaston Janzegers was locked up as a political prisoner and assaulted in various concentration camps. He was killed on 12 February 1945 in the hospital barracks in Gross-Rosen, after the Germans had set the camp on fire in the ultimate evacuation.

Georges Buysse was imprisoned in different camps in Germany. During a transport to Esterwegen, he was beaten to death by his guards in the night of 6 to 7 April 1945 in Heidrich-Ostrode, between Dora and Northauwen.

Julien Vangeel stayed in different concentration camps. Exhausted by the many camps and transports, felled by illness and turned blind, on April 19, 1945, liberation was close at hand, in Flossenbürg he lost his life from deprivation and disease.

Source: Tourism Dendermonde "Stumbling stone walk"

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Source

• Text: Marie-Christine Vinck
• Photos: Marie-Christine Vinck