Somewhere at the beginning of World War II,
May 1940 or so,
my grandfather
Pieter Corneel Obourdin, politically involved, had to get away,
before the Germans invaded Antwerp/Belgium.
He bought a car (a Citroën Traction
11B, "gris irisée"), registered it and hired a driver.
They fled to
Lourdes with the whole family. On their way, someone took these pictures.
A silent reminder of the exodus in 1940.
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I know it's a long shot, but if someone recognises the area,
I would be very
pleased to learn about the exact location in France.
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This is the actual size of the photographs, but thanks to
modern technology, you can blow them up, simply by clicking on them.
If a bigger resolution wanted, just mail erwin@reKup.net
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Later on, they came back to Belgium.
My grandfather was
caught, deported and died, probably in Nordhausen/Germany in 1945.
My father,
his 2 brothers and their mother survived the war.
Somewhere on the way, my great-grandmother was left behind in a hospital
and died later on, at the age of 56.
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The car was never heard of again (probably left and/or
confiscated in Lourdes) and all I have is the registration in name of my
grandfather.
registration number 434.208 |
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These days in Belgium, we still talk about "a booklet", when
referring to the registration documents of a car.
Nowadays it is just a piece of
paper, but these copies show you the origine of the name.
License plates in
Belgium are still linked to a person, and not a car.
Hence no type of car
mentioned on these documents. |
