(12) Breendonk
[… The camp commandment of Breendonk to begin with was SS Sturmbannfuhrer Schmidt who in November 1943 was replaced by SS Sturmbannfuhrer Schoenwetter. Schmidt was a bestial fellow who was capable of all kinds of brutalities. The deputy commandant was SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Steckman. Then there was SS Untersturmfuhrer Brauss (this should read Prauss) : height 1.68 meters, heavy thick build, aged 45 – 48, graying hair, fleshy nose, pale colorless lips, small dark grey eyes, coarse face, hoarse voice, stutters slightly, Prauss is what one would call ‘the Devil Incarnate’. He was known as The Terror of Breendonk, he was never seen without his whip with which he hit the prisoners mercilessly. It was Prauss who devised all the torture instruments at Breendonk which he had made by the prisoners …]
His foremost collaborators in torturing the prisoners were :
De Bodt : ex lock-keeper at Willebroek, domiciled there, 1.78 to 1.80 meters tall, 42 – 45 years old, bright blue eyes, protruding eyes, clean shaven, round face, robust build, dark brown hair, round band head. De Bodt was of the same caliber as Prauss and is also responsible for many people being tortured. Lampaert : Adolf, already described above. The same kind of brute as De Bodt and Prauss. De Saffel : Hax, he came from near Ghent. He lived in the fort of Breendonk. He worked in the office. There were also a great number of guards of the Brussels office among whom were also Roumanians and Bulgarians. All sports of political prisoners were imprisoned at Breendonk : Jews, communists, Members of Resistance Organizations, etc. Their hair was always cut off and they received a khaki uniform worn to the thread. The treatment of the prisoners varied considerably. It can be said that some were treated badly and others extremely badly. The people who were interned at Breendonk and who had already been interrogated and had to await the pronouncement of their sentence had to carry out forced labor from morning till evening under the whip of the sadistic guards and with insufficient food.
There was another category of prisoners at Breendonk, those who were under treatment to make them speak. These people were tortured continuously and in all possible manners. They were kept in cells where they could scarcely lie down and were made to sleep on the camp ground with bedding in cells which were completely open at the top and in which the draught was terrible. Prauss had also devised a sort of gallows whereby the prisoners were hauled up by their wrists which were tied behind their back. The victims were even undressed and mercilessly beaten with bludgeons, whips, or sticks. When a tortured man lost consciousness he was given a strong smelling liquid to smell, his bleeding wounds were also rubbed with salt water. After being tortured the victim usually received a stimulating injection. In Breendonk people were also executed. The condemned were shot by soldiers of the Wehrmacht, while the barbarous SS administered the ‘coup de grace’. Prauss was concerned with the hanging of people condemned to death.
After a secret Communistic printing press was discovered the Security Police brought the press to Breendonk where then a false Roodevann (Red flag) was printed and distributed into letterboxes of individuals.
APPENDIX GG NAMES OF GERMANS AND COLLABORATORS REFFERED TO IN THE REPORT ON APPENDICES
NOT INCLUDED IN :
(a) Paragraph 11 and Appendix V (List of Permanent Camp Staff in Breendonk)
(b) Paragraph 12 and Appendix X (List of Civilians Employed in Breendonk)
(c) Paragraph 35 and Appendix DD (List of some of the Head Men of the Rooms in Breendonk)
Serial/Name (and address if known)
Source of information, Remarks
1. Dr Recortes
– a. Mme Paquet, Appendix A Serial 21
– b. Denounced Mme Paquet to the Germans
2. De Zitter
– a. A. Denis, Appendix C
– b. Known as Captain Willy
3. Annie or Anita (Surname unknown)
– a. A. Denis – Appendix C
– b. The Spanish mistress of De Zitter (Serial 2 above)
4. Govaerts, Camillo
– a. Major Van Roosebroeck, Appendix L
– b. A Belgian aged about 20 in 1943. Tortured prisoners in Merkplas
5. Van de Plas, Guy
– a. Mme Aaulotte, Appendix O
– b. Denounced Mme Aulotte to the Germans
6. Fraulein Pohr
– a. Mme Aulotte, Appendix O
– b. A member of the Gestapo. Arrested Mme Aulotte
7. Pieters
– a. Mme Aulotte, Appendix O
– b. A German member of the Gestapo. Interrogated and tortured Mme Aulotte in the Gestapo HQ, Brussels
8. Delarue
– a. J. B. Charrin, Appendix Q
– b. Denounced Charrin to the Germans
9. Kleinpoull
– a. J. H. Charrin, Appendix Q
– b. A German member of the Gestapo. Interrogated and tortured Charrin in the Gestapo HQ in Brissels
10. Bross
– a. H. Laude, Appendix R
– b. Captain-Inspector in the Geheime Feldpolizei at Antwerp. Arrested Mr Laude and also interrogated and tortured him. Stole Laude’s private belongings and also property of the Colonial University, Antwerp. (See Appendix A serial 45 and Appendix E)
11. Barman
– a. H. Laude, Appendix R
– b. Lieutenant in the Geheime Feldpolizei at Antwerp. Assisted in the arrest of Mr Laude
12. Schmidt Ilse
– a. A. Singer, Appendix G, Mme Verdickt, Appendix W, Member of the Security Police, Appendix FF
– b. Wife of the Commandant Major Schmidt. She was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA. Her maiden name was Birckholz. She was about 5 ft 6 inches in height and thirty-two to thirty-three years of age. She was brunette with dark grey eyes. She had a narrow face and broad sensual mouth. She was well built. She worked as a typist in the Security Police HQ in Antwerp
13. Philippens
– a. L. O. Moens, Appendix BB
– b. Burgomaster of Puurs. A great friend of Major Schmidt, Commandant of Breendonk Concentration Camp
14. Van Horen, Willy
– a. Member of the Security Police, Appendix FF
– b. A member of the Antwerp Security Police. Inventor of the electric brush, an instrument of torture (See paragraph 43 of the report)
15. Veit
– a. Member of the Security Police, Appendix FF
– b. A member of the Antwerp Security Police. Tortured people
16. Verhulsdonk
– a. Member of the Security Police, Appendix FF
– b. A member of the Antwerp Security Police. Tortured people
17. Lienne
– a. Member of the Security Police, Appendix FF
– b. Police Inspector, Security Police at Antwerp
18. Van Aken
– a. Member of the Security Police, Appendix FF
– b. Probably denounced Mr Laude (Appendix A Serial 45 and Appendix R) to the Germans
End of this Archives
Addendum (Doc Snafu)
After the Malines (Belgium) War Crimes Trail, the following were sentenced to dead and executed on April 12 1947 :
– Fernand Wijss
– Marcel De Saffel
– Adolphus Lampaert
– Jan Pellemans
– Felix Brusselaers
– Eugène Raes
– Petrus Van Praet
– Karel Carleer
– Walter Obler
– Sally Lewin
– Guillaume Hermans
– Georges Vermeulen
sentenced to dead but not executed :
– Van Neck Frans
– Vandevoorde Gaston
sentenced to dead but not executed (already dead in 1947) :
– De Bodt Rijkaard
– Devos Valéry
Editor’s note – The transcription of this document required several weeks of careful examination due to severe deterioration, illegibility, and inconsistencies in the original wartime copy. Every effort was made to preserve the text in its authentic form without alteration or modern correction.
