Figure 1.--Here we see a photograph of a class of schoolboys at Melle Monastery, East Flanders, taken in 1942. The monastery ran a school during World War II to shelter (and hide) refugee boys who were fleeing persecution from the NAZIs. Some of these boys, of course, were Jewish.

Belgian clerics were some of the most effective in Europe in helping to rescue the country's relatively small Jewish population. Jewish children in particular were hidden in various Catholic monasteries and schools throughout Belgium. The most notable cleric was Father Bruno who saved hundreds of children. One child hidden by Father Bruno, Flora Singer, remembers that her aunt could not bear to part with her baby cousin Nounou and refuse to allow him to be hidden. Flora's mother later came to her sister's apartment with food and found a seal on the door, "prpert of the Third Reich". Her mother managed to grab the family's photograph album--all that is left of them today. [Capps, p. C8.]

Church Role

We do not have a comprehensive assessment of the role of the Catholic Church during the NAZI occupation of Germany. We do know that Belgian clerics were some of the most effective in Europe in helping to rescue the country's relatively small Jewish population. Jewish children in particular were hidden in various Catholic monasteries and schools throughout Belgium.

Melle Monastery

Here we see a photograph of a class of schoolboys at Melle Monastery, East Flanders, taken in 1942. The monastery ran a school during World War II to shelter (and hide) refugee boys who were fleeing persecution from the NAZIs. Some of these boys, of course, were Jewish. The class seems to be made up of boys from about ten to twelve years old. They are dressed rather formally for their school portrait--mostly in short pants suits with shirts and ties. A few have open collars under their jackets, in some cases with sweaters. The majority of boys wear knee socks with their shorts pants suits, but long stockings and ankle socks are also represented. One boy wears plus fours (knickers that, when bloused over the knee, come down to about mid-calf). The variety of dress-up clothes is revealing here and seems to represent a good cross section of what schoolboys were wearing in Belgium during the early 1940s. Notice the priests, presumably the boys' teachers, standing in the back rows.

Father Bruno

The most notable cleric was Father Bruno who saved hundreds of children. One child hidden by Father Bruno, Flora Singer, remembers that her aunt could not bear to part with her baby cousin Nounou and refuse to allow him to be hidden. Flora's mother later came to her sister's apartment with food and found a seal on the door, "prpert of the Third Reich". Her mother managed to grab the family's photograph album--all that is left of them today. [Capps, p. C8.] A noted historian discusses the hidden children of NAZI occupied Europe and writes that people in Belgium and Poland were pariculasrly good at hiding children. He goes into some detail on children hidden by father Bruno in his book Hidden Children.

Sources

Capps, Reilly. "In the Holocaust, hide-and-seek was no game," Washington Post, September 20, 2003, pp. C1, 8.

Greenfeld, Howard. Hidden Children (Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston 1993).

Created: 11:31 PM 5/25/2006
Last updated: 9:28 PM 8/1/2019