大象传媒

The following notes are excerpts from the diaries of Jozef Massart who left Mechelen (Belgium) on the 13th of May 1940, together with his British wife, Lilan May, his two young children Loline and Raymond and their neighbours Jan and Francis:

At noon, the train left the station in the direction of Ghent. There were no specific incidents. When we arrived, we had to look for a place to sleep. I told my wife that I thought it was preferable to find lodgings at a safe distance from the station, as it was a prime target for bombings. Unfortunately, we were unable to find rooms and were obliged to stay at a hotel opposite St Peter鈥檚 railway station. Once we were installed, my wife and Francis started to unpack and then prepared a meal. Raymond, who was exhausted, was already in bed and slept peacefully. I decided to go out to find a newspaper but Lilian told me to have my supper first. I stood at the window of our room and watched the crowds that had gathered in front of the station: mostly refugees like us or inhabitants of Ghent who were busy handing out information to people who had just arrived. A little further down, I noticed others who were throwing packets of cigarettes to soldiers who were in a train that had stopped at the exterior of the station.
All of a sudden, I heard the groaning sound of airplanes that were flying at an extremely low altitude. I watched the crowd disperse like frightened rats, running in all possible directions. But, to no avail. I saw a bomb fall,before my eyes in front of a building to the right of the station. Luckily, it didn鈥檛 explode. It fell however with such an impact that the cobblestones flew in all possible directions, high up in the air. I saw how a man was hit and his head split by a stone, he fell down on the ground.
All this happened so fast that it took me several seconds to realise that a bombing had started. The air raid warning, that started moments later, confirmed that I was right. Without further delay, we all fled to the hotel cellar. My wife picked up Loline and I Raymond, whom I had wrapped in a blanket. Approximately 15 minutes later, we heard the all clear and returned to our room. From our window, we witnessed horrible scenes in front of the hotel: dead and wounded people were being carried away on stretchers. Others were desperately seeking family members who had been dispersed by the bombing. A second air raid warning followed and no sooner had we arrived in the cellar or we heard bombs falling and coming closer by the second. It was horrible. The cellar shook as if in an earthquake. Due to all the plaster falling from the ceiling, a dense kind of fog developed and it was difficult to breathe. People, pale as corpses, ran from one side of the cellar to the other, in the belief that the building was about to collapse. Women and children cried and screamed. People fainted. The despair was at its worst when bombs fell at approximately 5 meters in front and at 10 meters behind the hotel. My wife who up to now had never lost her nerve, grabbed hold of me and repeated constantly: 鈥淟et us die, Jef, let us die鈥�. I put my arms around her and the children and said: 鈥淒on鈥檛 be afraid. It鈥檚 nearly finished鈥�, while I was thinking: 鈥淚ndeed it may soon really be finished and.. Forever鈥�
Finally we heard the all clear and I returned to our room to pick up the luggage. All the windows were broken and the floor was covered with glass and stones. Loline鈥檚 doll, that had been on the bed where Raymond had slept, had a smashed head.. Large glass splinters were stuck into the walls like daggers.. (to be continued)

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