‘Het verdriet van Vlaanderen’

Following the successful Canvas series, Kinderen van de Collaboratie, and the debate SS or IS: what can we learn from the past? we are organising a discussion entitled Learning from the collaboration: an ongoing necessity?.
Belgium and the Netherlands have a long tradition of silence when it comes to the collaboration with the German occupation during the Second World War. Recently, we have seen a clear tendency towards exposing the truth about these dark chapters of our national history, and showing the many, often contradictory sides of the matter.
The debate takes place between three specialists: Koen Aerts (UGent), Chantal Kesteloot (CegeSoma/Rijksarchief) and Marc Reynebeau (De Standaard). Karl van den Broeck (BOZAR) will be there to keep the discussion on track.

The discussion will be preceded by a presentation of the book Het verdriet van Vlaanderen, op stap met Hein en Toon, tweeling van de collaboratie, written by Kristien Hemmerechts, working closely with Hein and Toon Van den Brempt. It is an intriguing book about the taboo subject of collaboration, and lifts the veil on the involvement of two Flemish families in the German occupation and the holocaust. Kristien Hemmerechts takes the reader on a quest with ‘the twins of the collaboration’ through memories, witnesses, archives, the SS-Junkerschule in Bavaria, and the ‘Neuengamme’ camp (where the victims of the drama in Meensel-Kiezegem died).

Music, in première, with: Stijn Kuppens (a special composition for the occasion, cello) and Kim Van den Brempt (piano).