The Secret Army

! THIS TEMPORARY EXPO HAS ALREADY ENDED !

During World War II, Waregem was occupied by the German army for four years. The inhabitants of Waregem learned by necessity to live with the occupier and obeyed German demands as best they could. Nevertheless, frustration and anger grew underground among large parts of the population. Small individual acts of resistance led to an organised form of resistance from 1942 onwards. This resistance group would grow into the Waregem Secret Army.

Exhibition

The temporary exhibition at HIPPO.WAR told the story of this Secret Army. Visitors learned about the members of the resistance group, their acts of sabotage and their hiding place, farmstead Le Grèbe and some remarkable women in the resistance. Numerous photographs, personal documents and witness accounts showed the size and importance of the Secret Army.

Special attention was paid to the tragic liberation days in September 1944, in which both the Secret Army, and the Waregem population paid a heavy toll. There was also the story of John Mahoney, a US soldier who was housed for months by the Secret Army, but was shot on the last day of liberation.