Member of a Flemish SS Unit at Fort Breendonk Prison Camp

Portrait of a member of a Flemish Schutzstaffel (SS) unit who served as a prison guard at Fort Breendonk prison camp, now interred at the same camp following its liberation by Allied forces. Shortly after the Belgians surrendered to the Germans, the Germans transformed Fort Breendonk into a prison camp. On 20 September 1940 the first prisoners arrived. Initially, the prisoners were petty criminals, people deemed anti-social, or violators of the new race laws. Later on, resistance fighters, political prisoners and innocent hostages were detained as well. Another section of the camp was used as a transit camp for Jews being sent to death camps in the east such as Auschwitz. After the camp’s liberation by the British in late 1944, it was briefly used as an internment camp for Belgian collaborators with the Nazi occupiers. This period of Breendonk’s existence is known as “Breendonk II”. The internees were later moved to Dossin Barracks in Mechelen on 10 October 1944. Fort Breendonk, Breendonk, Province of Antwerp, Belgium. September 1944. Image taken by George Rodger.  

Source :
http://bag-of-dirt.tumblr.com/post/133033064175/portrait-of-a-member-of-a-flemish