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Belgium. Paul what did happen?

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by Dirk Marinus (U1648073) on Monday, 29th May 2006

  
  
  Paul Ryckier,
  
  Have you come across information regarding a massacre committed by the German Army on Saturday 25th May 1940 at a place called Vinkt?

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Dirk Marinus (U1648073) on Monday, 29th May 2006

  Paul ,
  
  I did some googling and visited Wikipedia and found information on this.
  
  I had never heard of this incident before .
  
  

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• Message 3

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by PaulRyckier (U1753522) on Monday, 29th May 2006

  Dirk,
  
  I mentioned it here already sometimes on the boards, but hidden in other messages (smile).
  
  I was born in Ghent, while there was no nursery in the St. Vincentius Clinic in Deinze. (Ghent is about 10 miles (15 kilometer) from Deinze)
  
  My mother's family lived there. I know a lot about the atrocities from Zeveren,Meigem and Vinkt (next to Deinze) and I thought it was on Sunday, but I will check it. My mother was a fishmerchant in Deinze and she knew a lot of people from these adjacent communalities. And they told me a lot about it. One man from Zeveren survived although he was shot through his head by a German, but he crawled to a house when he was again conscious. There he received a bloodtransfusion from a German doctor and was later helped by a Belgian doctor De Caluwè (the father of my classmate, who is now also doctor in Deinze. (I found it now in the book that I will describe in the next paragraph: it was René De Geest) On the day of the capitulation 27 another two men of Zeveren are arrested and in the Poeke road of Vinkt in public murdered.
  
  I will do some more research for you in the local library in Bruges. But I have studied in depth the massacre of Deinze in discussions with Tony Vanhee, whose grandfather and father were used in a group as living shield against the 5th Ardeense Jagers (Belgian elite corps) at the destroyed bridge of the diversion canal of the Lys. He wrote a book of 287 pages about it. I have it now at hand. His grandfather was killed by a grenade detonating in the group. His father survived. My uncle, mother's brother survided also while he was just inside a building taking some sacs of grain to build a wall in front of the living shield and to place a machinegun there or a (granaatwerper?). My mother was stupidily seeking for her brother during the bombardement and was nearly killed by a grenade which hitted a house on here way to the market, where the group of hostages was held. There were 38 people killed in the group of the living shield.
  
  All that happened in the afternoon of 25 June 1940. And although there are that several books about the massacres from Meigem, Zeveren, Vinkt there was only a non edited book of George Hautecker about the "vaartdrama" and now an edited one by Tony Vanhee.
  
  He used the military documents of the Belgian and the German side. The testimonies of the surviving civilians to the commission of war atrocities in 1945 and direct conservation with the witnesses and their descent by the author.
  
  My mother read the book three years ago and she diferred in many things with the author. I confronted the author with her testimonies but it is very difficult to come to a conclusion. I mostly believe the author.
  
  It is very difficult to reconstruct every detail at the hand of testimonies. For instance she said that they were not evacuated from the Guido Gezellelaan where they lived on Sunday 26 May, but the author wrote in his book that it was the case.
  
  I discussed another item here on the boards with Thick as a Planck. The airstrike on Deinze by American, British airplanes in 1944 where I and my mother were nearly killed at some yards near. And I interviewed by telephone two witnesses indicated by Tony Vanhee and it was difficult to coordinate them with the testimony of my mother.
  
  Dirk, see you tomorrow. Will seek for some evidence in the local library Wednessday for Vinkt. But Sunday up to Dublin Eire.
  
  Warm regards,
  
  Paul.

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• Message 4

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by Dirk Marinus (U1648073) on Wednesday, 31st May 2006

  Paul,
  
  Read your reply and I will come back on it.
  
  Actually I have got a question in respect of all the massacres we know of.
  
  I am just trying to get it into perspective.

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