Belgium celebrates her liberation: relatives of the Belgians who volunteered for the German army to fight bolshevism locked up in the lion cage of Antwerp Zoo.
This is not Belgium celebrating the liberation.This is a scene from the repression against collaborators.In 1944 the liberation of Belgium was going so fast that the governmment had no time to organise and arm the police forces to restore order.In this vacuum of power the resistance saw their chance to get even with collaborators.In many cases police did not interfere(nor did the liberators).Women suspected of collaborating were locked up in vacant cages of the Zoo,some had their hair shaved off in public later on.There are also pictures of men in these cages.In some cases personal retaliations were the reason for being locked up.This would go on for some time after the liberation.It’s not a period to be proud of but the caption with this photo however is wrong,these are not relatives of Belgian Eastfront volunteers,these are suspected collaborators.