Postcard of Belgian Brigadistas
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Title
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Postcard of Belgian Brigadistas
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Rights
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Photo: Collection Rudi Van Doorslaer.
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Description
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This photo was sold as a postcard in support of the Spanish Republic and displays Flemish members of the Edgar André Battalion within the 11th Brigade. Some of them can be identified. Standing, first from the right: Lodewijk Cornand of Aalst. He was killed in February 1937. Fifth from the right, still standing: Jean La Broye of Ledeberg. Seventh from the right: Willy De Coninck of Ghent, political representative of the Flemish communist party in Spain and brother of resistance fighter professor Lucien De Coninck. Next to him stands Jean-Marie Van Boecksel. He was also killed in February 1937. To the left of Van Boecksel is Gustaaf Lampaert of Ghent. The third from the left, standing at the front, is Wilfried Wouters of Antwerp. He attended the officers' school in Pozorrubio and was later sent back to Belgium to lead the Wollweber sabotage group. Arrested at the end of 1940 and sent to a German camp of prisoners of war, he was executed in September 1943. At the bottom, second from the left, we see Etienne Walraevens of Zottegem, and partially hidden as the fifth from the left, Jean Pirot, the leader of the communists of the Patershol district in Ghent.
