La vie des postiers dans l'Enfer de Breendonk - The Life of postal workers in the Hell of Breendonk, by a prisoner of Breendonk camp D.piens - Director of the Post Office in Brussels, Brussels, 1947 - First Edition. Rare publication about the underground activity of mailmen in Belgium, their arrest by the Nazis and deportation to death camps. Accompanied by many photographs of dozens of Belgian mailmen heroes who saved many during the war. French.
A rare publication about the significant role of Belgian mail workers during the Nazi occupation in protecting and saving tens of thousands. How mail workers aided the secret resistance through strikes that blocked propaganda materials the Germans tried to distribute, by secretly distributing underground newspapers, hiding resources intended for resistance fighters, postal workers who took part in sabotage operations of electrical facilities and railways used by the Nazis, and more. The book also documents the Nazis' pursuit of Belgian mail workers, their arrest, deportation to Breendonk camp, and murders, and tells the author's own story of being arrested by the Nazis and imprisoned in Breendonk where he was responsible for the mail department, the severe torture he underwent in the camp, he describes the malnutrition and constant hunger the prisoners experienced - "The malnutrition and exhausting work weakened us rapidly to the point that after a month's stay we were no more than human rags...", and his survival story. The second part of the book brings testimonies from prisoners and short statements describing the suffering they endured and Nazi brutality in Breendonk: "I prefer spending nineteen months in Buchenwald than nineteen days in Breendonk". It includes testimonies from Mechelen prisoners, a long list of political prisoners who spent at least three months in Breendonk, and more.
The book is accompanied by dozens of photographs of Breendonk prisoners who were mailmen across Belgium, and were arrested by the Nazis, a group photo of mail workers who survived Breendonk, photos of freed mailman prisoners, and more.
Among the book's pages are dozens of advertisements for various businesses throughout Belgium after the war.
Rare. Only one copy registered in the World Cat library catalog.
352 p. 25 cm. Minor tears on spine. Good condition.
