Belgian Resistance

Belgian resistance during World War II to the occupation of Belgium by Nazi Germany took on many different forms. "The Belgian Resistance", in a narrower sense, was the common name for the "Netwerk van de weerstand - Réseau de Résistance" or Resistance Network (RR), a group of partisans fighting the Nazi occupation of Belgium. Belgian resistance fighters performed various roles, including sabotaging Nazi installations and helping rescue downed Allied fliers. [ [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/27/uttm/main983982.shtml?source=search_story Remembering The Resistance, Belgium's Freedom Fighters Aided Allies - CBS News ] ]

Countess Andrée de Jongh organized the Comet Line ("Komeet Lijn - Le Reseau Comète") for escaped Allied soldiers. Albert Guérisse organized escape routes for downed Allied pilots under the alias of "Patrick Albert "Pat" O'Leary"; his escape line was dubbed the "Pat Line".

Andree Antoine Dumon helped rescue 27 downed Allied fliers and worked as a courier for the resistance. [ [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/27/uttm/main983982.shtml?source=search_story Remembering The Resistance, Belgium's Freedom Fighters Aided Allies - CBS News ] ] Baron Georges Schnek, operating mainly in France and who was Jewish, helped provide false ID papers and ration coupons to fleeing Jewish families. [ [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/27/uttm/main983982.shtml?source=search_story Remembering The Resistance, Belgium's Freedom Fighters Aided Allies - CBS News ] ]

Georges Schoeters, co-founder and member of the FLQ, worked as a courier towards the end of the war until he was captured and imprisoned by the Nazis.

Popular Culture

A 1977 film, called "Secret Agents", dealt with the Belgian Resistance.A BBC Series was filmed during the late 1970's called Secret Armyloosely based on the history of the Comete Line

An American documentary was released in 2006 called [http://www.alpheusmedia.com/lastbesthope "Last Best Hope"] that premiered in Brussels for Prince Phillipe, the Belgian Army, and diplomats from 5 countries. Film makers David Grosvenor, Mat Hames, Ramona Kelly, and Walter Verstraeten presented the film to surviving Belgian Resistance members Andrée de Jongh, Raymond Itterbeek, Michou and Nadine Dumon, and many others. An edited version of the film aired in the U.S. on PBS nationwide in 2006 and 2007, and on European television in 2007.

ee also

*Resistance during World War II
*Albert Guérisse
*Andrée de Jongh
*Twentieth convoy

References

Reflist4.José GOTOVITCH. Du Rouge au tricolore : les communistes belges de 1939 à 1944 : un aspect de l’histoire de la Résistance en Belgique. Bruxelles : Éd. Labor, 1992. (Archives du futur – Histoire). 609 p.

External links

* [http://www.pbs.org/lastbesthope "Last Best Hope" PBS Website]