T’ Gruwelkamp Breendonk Doorleefde nachtmerries – Breendonk Horror Camp – Living nightmare. Early and detailed testimony on the atrocities of the Breendonk camp, by Breendonk camp survivor Jef Peeraer published by De Rupel. Brussels, 1946 – First edition, Dutch. Cover design: Large illustration of a prisoner handcuffed to the swastika, signed in print: “Theo”
A horrifying testimony by a former Breendonk prisoner describing in detail the severe torture he endured, and the prisoners with him in the camp. At the beginning of the book, he writes: “I dedicate these pages as a bitter indictment against the executioner regime of the Nazi Reich, and also as a supreme tribute to those living and dead, whose love of the land, the people and freedom, defied this hell…” In the entire book, the author describes Breendonk’s hell, especially the Nazis’ mistreatment of prisoners in countless ways of beating and humiliating. It is important to emphasize that the author describes what happened in the camp on a daily basis, including the names of the prisoners who were by his side and who were tortured, the difficult actions carried out with their bodies, and the various ways in which they died. The book contains harsh descriptions of many everyday beating scenes. He also writes about the meager portions of food given to the prisoners, the harsh methods of torture that were customary in the camp: spanking the body, beatings to the point of fainting, crushing limbs, electric shocks, stagnation cells in which the prisoners’ bodies were examined, torture rooms for two prisoners in ways that are difficult to imagine, and more. The prisoners in the camp were given one thin slice of bread that was supposed to hold their bodies for 10 hours of exhausting work a day! It also details the various methods of execution in the camp. In one episode, Jeff describes a week in which several Jews were executed one after the other, each using different forms of torture, as well as sadistic abuse that lasted for several days of a Jew who tried to escape the camp.
Due to the difficult descriptions in the book, the author felt it necessary to preface: “When reading the following chapters, some readers may wonder whether the author did not exaggerate a little and let his imagination run wild. This question sounds logical to those who were lucky enough to never be imprisoned in Fort Breendonk. But the author can safely rely on the living witnesses who were there with him… Only those who were there in Breendonk can judge the mild terms in which the author describes this hell…”. And expresses a wish that his book will help eradicate fascism and evil from the world.
The book is accompanied by many photographs: including partisans and resistance fighters who were captured by the Nazis – brought to Breendonk, tortured and murdered, Breendonk prisoners who were transferred to Buchenwald or other camps and murdered there, as well as illustrations of harsh scenes described in the book in which Gestapo soldiers are seen abusing prisoners in the camp, signed: “Theo” .
Extremely rare. Does not appear in the WorldCat catalog of libraries, nor does it appear in the National Library.
105 [3] p. 19 cm. Good – very good condition.
