Monday morning we departed for Breendonk Concentration Camp right outside of the city of Antwerp.
From here you can tell slightly that the interior of the fences is lowered. There was a stream running around the building and the prisoners would have to dig dirt from the inside of the stream and transport it to the outside as useless labor. When you're by the camp you can see the difference in the level of terrain.
We got there a little early and had to wait outside of the gates for about 15 minutes before they would let us in.
It was a pretty intimidating place to wait.
Breendonk wasn't an execution camp but was a transit and labor camp.
I chose not to take photos of the more intense places. We visited their outdoor latrines, the execution area, torture and interrogation rooms as well as other places including their rooms and the solitary confinement rooms. It was very intense and overwhelming for some of the people on the trip.
This is where they would count the prisoners three times every day.
After leaving the Breendonk we had lunch on the site before boarding the bus to go to Duvel.
Duvel is a Belgium based beer company and I'm definitely a fan.
Our lecture ended up being more of us as a think-tank for the COO.
He also seemed a little stubborn concerning the American market and craft brewing.
These bracelets were what we turned in to get two beers and a glass at the end of the tour.
They just released their triple hop within the past two weeks and it's awesome.
They also passed around cones of cheese. You go, Duvel.
I grabbed some bottles of their smaller brand De Koninck to bring back home. De Koninck is only sold in Antwerp.
That night we had our "Summer Barbecue" with the other American Universities studying in at the University of Antwerp. They include James Madison, Marquette and I believe North Dakota is the last one? We were definitely the most put together group…
That night I ended up falling asleep on top of clothes I was trying to pack on my bed. It's been exhausting.
No comments:
Post a Comment