Death ditch

On a few meters from the Royal Atheneum in the Martelarenlaan, besides the railway and a small ditch, is a graveyard monument and 22 small crosses. The monument was build in remembrance of the 22 assassinated prisoners by a detachment of the Flemish SS.

During the night of 04 to 05 September 1944, the Germans transferred the remaining 900 prisoners to the state police. All prisoners were released on September 05, 1944.

On September 06 1944 numerous ex-prisoners were still in Leopoldsburg. A part of them was given shelter in Brasserie Léopold. SS-ers of the Division Langemarck got word of this and gathered together a group of 39 ex-prisoners at what we now call the ‘Dodengracht’ (Death Ditch). There they were shot. Only 17 escaped death in a miraculous way.