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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: alex260966 on Tuesday 02 August 22 18:29 BST (UK)
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Hello,
I would like to know if someone can help me with the next topic: we're doing a research about British civilians who were living in Belgium during World War 2 and who were arrested by the Germans and interned in Camp Bourg Leopold and Dongelberg, Belgium.
We've discovered that a certain number of women were arrested and sent to an internment camp at Bourg Leopold (Province of Limburg, Belgium). The ladies were in July 1942 transfered to the internment camp of Chateau Dongelberg (near Louvain, province of Brabant), Belgium.
At least 20 women were transfered to Camp Dongelberg. We haven't find any publication on the topic (internment of British civilians in Belgium during World War 2 or the presence of the civilians in the internment camps of Bourg Leopold or Dongelberg).
Here are a few names (all living in Belgium and arrested):
- Davies Lilian, born 19 May 1895 in Liverpool and living in Brussels
- Jacques Florence, born 30 December 1908 in London and living in Malines
- Lynch Eilleen, born 28 July 1891 in Cashel (Ireland) and living in Brussels
- Marsh Bessy, born 26 April 1912 in Buxton and living in Brussels
- Mulinder Barbara, born 11 December 1925 in South-West Battersea and living in Brussels-Ixelles
- O'Connor Teresa, born 06 September 1911 in Acerington (or Accrington) and living in Brussels-Schaerbeek
- Turpin Hilda, born 03 September 1906 in London and living in Brussels-Etterbeek
- Wood Irene, born 24 May 1906 in Bournemouth and living in Brussels
Concerning the British men; they were also interned in the camp of Bourg Leopold but the Germans transfered them, together with US civilians, to an internment camp in Laufen (Germany).
Thanks in advance and greetings from Belgium
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The best place to start would be the International Committee of the Red Cross who maintained records of all Allied personnel, military and civilian, which Germany declared that it was holding either in prisoner of war camps or internment camps.
There are British records but they are mainly based on information supplied by the ICRC. See these records at the British National Archives, for example: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C14541141
There are also details of British citizens who were reported by the ICRC to have died while interned. See here for one particular period of the war: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14726299
There's also a lot of correspondence concerning British and American civilian internees for the year 1944 here:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11131632 - if you register you will be able to download the whole document, but be warned, it consists of 1472 pages!
But before diving into any of those docuuments, try just entering the names you are interested in, one by one into this page (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/) search function on the National Archives website, along with the appropriate dates, and see what comes up.
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Andy,
Thank you for the information and links. I'm not a frequent user of the mentioned archives website but your info is very interesting.
Regards
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It seems that some gardeners employed by the Imperial War Graves Commission (now CWGC) may have been interned. It may be worth contacting the CWGC Archives at Maidenhead to see if they hold lists of any who may have been interned in Belgium. As I recall CWGC have lots of information about the impact of WW2 on their French and Belgian staff. Apart from that the following may be of interest:
https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/news/the-story-of-cwgc-staff-rescued-and-left-behind-in-the-dunkirk-evacuation/