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9 ___________ The War within the War From here on my escape was no longer a stab in the dark, a hitor -miss proposition. I no longer had any decisions to make. Everything was planned for me. The spontaneity was gone but not the hazards. The underground was well organized, but it was up against a well-oiled and ruthless machine. The greatest danger to me and my protectors came not from the Gestapo but from the homegrown Fascists known as the Black Brigades, who drew their cadres from the Vlaams Nationaal Verbond and the WallOLl~l Rexists (monarchists) led by the Fascist Leon De Grelle. They were the eyes and ears of the Gestapo, and their agents were operating everywhere among the people. I now entered a new world and a new war-the war within the war. It went on relentlessly, day in and day out, without letup. The Fascist use of terror, torture, concentration camps brought incalculable suffering and millions of casualties. The resistance countered with sabotage, guerrilla raids, partisan warfare, propaganda , and humor. Yes, humor, believe it or not. The Belgians, like the Americans , are great practical jokers and pranksters. I was to learn much about this side of their character during my stay in Brussels. It was early Saturday night, but the streets were deserted when the young man ushered me quickly into the ground floor of a two-story building at Tilmont Street 9, in the Jette district of Brussels. His parents welcomed me with pleasant smiles. Their 68 ESCAPE FROM HITLER'S EUROPE names were Octave and Therese Malfait. The young man's name was Henri. The Malfaits were a gentle couple who didn't fit any preconceived stereotype ofthe heroic resistance fighter. Octave Malfait was an accountant. He left early in the morning and returned in the early afternoon. Therese Malfait had to spend a good part of her day out foraging for scarce food and necessities. Young Henri Malfait was also out of the house most of the time. That left me and the older man together a lot. Malfait was not only congenial company; he was also well informed, and we talked about the conditions of life in occupied Belgium. Every evening Octave Malfait would bring me the leading French language newspaper, Le Soir (the Evening). The Belgians called it Le Soir Vole (the stolen Soir) because it had been taken over by the Nazis and had become a craven propaganda sheet. It extolled the "new order" under Hitler and wrote glowingly of German victories and economic successes. It was laced with anti-Bolshevism and scurrilous anti-Semitism, which consumed me with revulsion and anger. Yet the Malfaits and I derived some perverse pleasure from reading its outlandish claims of victories when we knew that Hitler was losing the war. As Armistice Day approached, I could sense an undercurrent ofexcitement in the Malfait family. This was the third Armistice Day !Iince the occupation, and the Germans feared that any celebration of the Belgian national holiday might tum into a demonstration against the occupation. Consequently, they banned all observances of the day-a blow to the national pride of the Belgians, who were determined to retaliate and found several ways to do so. One day Malfait came in with a leaflet issued by the Front de l'Independence, an umbrella organization of resistance groups. It promised an imminent British and American invasion from the north and the inevitable overthrow of Hitler. It called for heightened resistance to the Nazi occupation. Thousands of Project MUSE (2024-04-26 09:53 GMT) The War within the War 69 these leaflets appeared out of nowhere and were found on park benches, on streetcars, in factories, in lavatories, and other public places. Then one afternoon, Octave Malfait came into the house and with great excitement told me the following story: An armament depot was ordered to prepare a shipment of machine guns and ammunition for a certain German unit. A detail of German soldiers appeared with written orders, signed for it, loaded the stuff on their truck and drove away. Fifteen minutes later another truck appeared with papers requesting the same supplies. The supply officer explained that a detail had already been there and had taken the armaments back to their unit. The officer in charge ofthe second detail said there must be some mistake; no other section of his unit had orders to collect the guns and ammo. What the outcome of their argument...

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