Follow
During the war, it is estimated that approximately 5% of the national population were involved in some form of resistance activity. The persecution of Belgian Jews and conscription of Belgian civilians into forced labour programs increasingly turned patriotic Belgian civilians from liberal or Catholic backgrounds against the German regime and towards the resistance.
Under German occupation, the first deportation of Belgian Jews began on 4 Aug 1942, most of whom were sent to Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. During the war, 25,631 Belgian Jews were deported; of that number, only 1,244 survived the Holocaust. The non-Jewish Belgian population was generally helpful toward the Jews in the country; it was estimated that more than 25,000 Jews were able to escape deportation after being given hidden shelters, often in private homes, by non-Jews.
The Belgian resistance effort was extremely fragmented between various groups and never became a unified organization during the German occupation. The danger of infiltration posed by German informants meant that some cells were extremely small and localized.
Active and Passive Resistance
- Passive resistance took on a number of forms including refusal of the Government to distribute Star of David badges on behalf of the German government to Belgian Jews. Striking was the most common form of passive resistance.
- Armed resistance in the forms of sabotage or assassinations, took place, but was only part of the "active" resistance's scope of activity. The postal service was an effective means of resistance focusing on intercepting letters of denunciation and then warning the denounced person to flee. It succeeded in intercepting over 20,000 letters.
- Sabotage was an important duty of the resistance due to Belgium's strategic location. The country constituted an important supply hub for the whole German army in Northern Europe and particularly northern France.
- Between June and September alone, 95 railroad bridges, 285 locomotives, 1,365 wagons and 17 tunnels were all blown up by the Belgian resistance.
- Telegraph lines were also cut and road bridges and canals used to transport material sabotaged.
- Assassination of key figures in the hierarchy of German and collaborationist hierarchy became increasingly common through 1944, the Communist Partisans Armés claimed to have killed over 1,000 traitors between June and September 1944.
Clandestine press
During the occupation an underground press flourished in Belgium from soon after the Belgian defeat, with eight newspapers appearing by October 1940 alone. Copies of the underground newspapers were distributed anonymously, with some pushed into letterboxes or sent by post. Since they were usually free, the costs of printing were free and funded by sympathizers.
- The number of Belgians involved in the underground press is estimated at anywhere up to 40,000 people. In total, 567 separate titles are known to have been published from the period of occupation.
Intelligence gathering
The Allies were also deeply reliant on the resistance to provide intelligence gathering from the occupied country. This information focused both on German troop movements and other military information. In total 43 separate intelligence networks existed in Belgium, involving some 14,000 people. The Belgian resistance provided around 80% of all information received by the Allies from all resistance groups in Europe.
Resistance to the Holocaust
The Belgian resistance was instrumental in saving Jews and Roma from deportation to death camps, successfully attacked the "Twentieth convoy" carrying 1,500 Belgian Jews by rail to Auschwitz in Poland.
- Many Belgians also hid Jews and political dissidents during the occupation: one estimate put the number at some 20,000 people hidden during the war.
- In total, 1,612 Belgians have been awarded the distinction of "Righteous Among the Nations" by the State of Israel for risking their lives to save Jews from persecution during the occupation.
Escape routes
The line not only fed and provided civilian clothes for the downed escaping pilots, but also forged French identity cards and rail fares. Since the airmen also needed to be hidden in civilian houses for prolonged periods of time, escape lines were particularly vulnerable.