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Getting to Breendonk Memorial, Belgium

We are interested in touring the memorial when we are in Belgium in September. We will be staying in Bruges or Brussels not sure yet. How easy is it to get there via train?
Thanks Julie

Posted by
21218 posts

Breendonk is about a mile from Willebroek rail station. Willebroek is 1 hour 50 min from Bruges with a change at Sint Niklass. There may be a bus route to Breendonk from the station, but a taxi should do the trick.

Posted by
21218 posts

Let me add to my short answer. I learn a lot by researching some of these obscure locations. So this time I learned about a WWI defensive fortification for Antwerp that was later turned into a Nazi prison.

Posted by
13 posts

Ok thanks just curious if you had been there. I found Breendonk but not a lot about people visiting recently.s

Posted by
7 posts

We've been to Breendonk. Well worth the visit. Make sure to get the audio-guide. The only suggestion I have is that you don't make this the only Holocaust Memorial that you visit, while in Europe.

Posted by
7936 posts

We've been there by car. But if you can walk the last mile if necessary, it's a worthwhile excursion. Do not give up your research here, because Belgium is pretty good with public transportation. Look into busses from Mechelen (a nice day-trip medieval town center) and surrounding towns. You might want to make sure the only restaurant, just outside the property, is open if you need it. The memorial itself is thoroughly set up for school and independent visits, with multi-language audio guides, rest rooms, and vending machines. As long as you check the website, you are in no danger of showing up and finding the gate locked or being all alone there.

To expand on the comment about other Holocaust sites, I presume you know that this chillling and scary prison is a special case of Nazi-era locations. It's more about intimidating an occupied country than about extermination. And it's connected with the general subject of collaboration - your reading should include "the Mechelen Trials". Some of the site is outdoors, so in bad weather you need foul weather gear to see everything. This is a unique supplement to the more-often visited memorials to the horror. It simply leaves out the issue of death camps, although plenty of people died here.

http://www.breendonk.be/EN/index.html

FWIW, Here's a Google Maps link with coordinates for the parking lot entrance:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=51.058089,+4.340458&hl=en&sll=40.07304,-74.724323&sspn=5.119306,12.689209&t=m&z=16

I've included the coordinates because, some years ago, our Garmin had an actual entry for Fort Breendonk and it turned out to be a suburban residential cul-de-sac, useless for the excursion.

Posted by
12040 posts

I haven't been there, but here's a useful resource if you won't have a car:

De Lijn, which is the bus and tram service for the Flemish region of Belgium. Trains mostly travel between cities, or to and from suburbs of large cities. If the train station is the hub, De Lijn acts as the spokes of the wheel, radiating out from the hub.