Antwerp, Belgium

Our first night on board we had dinner in the ships best venue, Privee, with a table for just the 10 of us.  We were treated to a beautiful sunset as we were dining.

Our first stop of the cruise was in Antwerp, Belgium.  How Antwerp fit into the overall theme of the cruise (UK, Iceland) I have no idea…but I think that was the way they could make it a 12 day cruise versus 11.  Regardless, despite spending three weeks in Belgium just a year ago, we knew we were coming on this cruise so we skipped Antwerp then.  We docked adjacent to the old city center, so it was super convenient.  This was the view from our suite upon docking.

We booked a trip with the ship to visit the nearby Breendonk SS Transit Camp, a former Belgian fortress that the Nazis turned into a detention center for Jews and Belgian resistance fighters at the outset of WWII.  This is one of the best preserved concentration camps since it was a former reinforced stone fort and wasn’t burned down like many of the other concentration camps, which were mostly made of wood.

The sign at the entrance warns “Whoever goes further will be shot!” in German, Dutch and French.

This is an aerial view of the layout of the camp.

This photograph of some major assholes is adjacent to the main entrance to the camp.

This is the same entrance.

Just inside the entrance is a memorial to all the Jews and other political prisoners who transited through this camp.  The camp saw between 3,500 and 3,600 prisoners incarcerated here before being sent on to the death camps.  Of those, 1,733 died before liberation.  In the photo below, the metal cylinders on the table hold ashes of victims from each of the concentration camps these prisoners were murdered in.

Opposite this memorial is the hall where the Nazis dined and spent their free time.  The painting on the wall is original.  The SS motto means “My honor means loyalty”.

Our guide took us into the actual torture chamber used by the Nazi’s on the Belgian resistance fighters.  They would be tortured for hours to get them to divulge information regarding the resistance plans and the names of other resistance fighters.  The guide went into quite a bit of detail…I was pretty surprised with how blunt he was, and if you know me I’m no stranger to bluntness.

Here is our very blunt and detail oriented guide in front of a sign identifying all of the prisoners who were executed here.  It’s kind of strange that he looks a lot like my father.

These were the gallows, where they would hang 3 people at a time.

They were apparently not very good at hanging people, so they usually ended up shooting them while they were tied to these poles.  This visit turned more grim than I thought it would, but then I had no idea who originally intact the camp would be.

This sign identifies that of the prisoners here, 184 were shot, 23 were hanged, and 94 died from forced labor, starvation and in some cases simple violence.  Two Flemish guards who collaborated with the Nazi’s were said to be the worst of the bunch, who murdered indiscriminately.

When we got back to Antwerp we had a little time to walk around the old city center.  Unfortunately, the Cathedral was already closed.  Still beautiful to look at!

One last night shot before we got underway.

Up next, our ship stops in Queensferry, Scotland.