Additional information
by James M. Deem (Author)
Fort Breendonk was built in the early 1900s to protect Antwerp, Belgium, from possible German invasion. Damaged at the start of World War I, it fell into disrepair . . . until the Nazis took it over after their invasion of Belgium in 1940. Never designated an official concentration camp by the SS and instead labeled a "reception" camp where prisoners were held until they were either released or transported, Breendonk was no less brutal. About 3,600 prisoners were held there--just over half of them survived. As one prisoner put it, "I would prefer to spend nineteen months at Buchenwald than nineteen days at Breendonk."
With access to the camp and its archives and with rare photos and artwork, James M. Deem pieces together the story of the camp by telling the stories of its victims--Jews, communists, resistance fighters, and common criminals--for the first time in an English-language publication. Leon Nolis's haunting photography of the camp today accompanies the wide range of archival images. The story of Breendonk is one you will never forget.Author Biography
James M. Deem is the author of numerous books of nonfiction and fiction for children, including Faces From The Past: Forgotten People of North America and the 2009 Sibert Honor Book, Bodies From The Ice: Melting Glaciers and the Recovery Of The Past. A retired college professor, Deem and his wife live in Tucson, Arizona, where he writes full time.
