ON August 19, 1914, on the balcony of Aarschot Town Hall in Belgium, Colonel Stenger, the commander of the invading German infantry brigade, was shot dead.
German reprisals were swift and brutal – even though it may be that the unpopular colonel was shot by one of his own men who despised his tough ways.
The Germans set fire to many houses in the small town, which today has a population of 30,000, as they swept through, rounding up the Belgian males.
The following day, they lined them up in a field in three rows. Among them was the mayor, Jozef Tielemans, on whose balcony the shooting had taken place along with his 15-year-old son and his brother. They were shot.
Also in the line-up was Joannes Peeters, the mayor’s driver, and his 16-year-old twin sons, Jan and Louis.
A young German officer pleaded for the youngsters’ reprieve and they were allowed to step back from the rows.
But they had to watch as, in cold blood, their father was executed in front of them.
And then they had to bury his body in the field.
Finally, they were allowed to return to their mother, Theresia.
In total, the Germans had executed 156 of Aarschot’s males. Then they ordered everyone to leave the town – although many had already fled.
Theresia and her five young children fled, first to London and then to Witton Park, near Bishop Auckland. As Memories 689 told, Father Johannes Krajicek, of St Chad’s Roman Catholic Church in the village, had informed the authorities that since Bolckow Vaughahn’s ironworks had closed in 1882, there were plenty of empty terraced houses for his co-religionists.
Theresia and her family were among the first 43 refugees to arrive on October 6, 1914. They were greeted by cheering crowds of thousands, who admired the plucky little Belgians who had been treated terribly by the overmighty Germans at the start of a war that everyone thought would be over by Christmas.
Also among those first 43 was Clementine Cypers and her three surviving children. As Memories 689 told, her husband, Henri, had been one of the 156 executed, plunging her into such tumultuous grief that she threw her five-month-old son into a river and tried to follow him. Clementine was prevented from taking her own life, but the baby was dead.
READ CLEMENTINE'S DESPERATELY SAD STORY HERE
More refugees arrived in south Durham. The Northern Echo reported how on October 20, 1914, the 7.07pm train into Darlington’s Bank Top had brought another 130.
"When the train drew into the station, a rousing cheer arose from the people on the platform and was taken up by the crowds outside the barriers," reported the Echo.
The refugees emerged and, carrying their worldly goods in little bundles, were placed in a convoy of cars which the townspeople had lent for the occasion.
"As these drove out of the station, hats, sticks and handkerchiefs were waved and a full cheer arose from the thousands of people who lined the streets," said the Echo.
The convoy weaved its way through a packed Skinnergate to the Mechanics Institute, where "a liberal supper" had been laid on.
The refugees' ages ranged from a couple of months to 82 years. They came from all social classes.
"One little girl of three or four is the representative of a family of ten, the others having been either killed, taken prisoner, or driven away when the Germans entered Malines," said the Echo. Malines – or Mechelen – is the neighbouring town to Aarschot.
After the meal, the Belgians dispersed. Twelve went to Stockton, 14 to Barton reading room, 18 into the care of Darlington's Catholics, 20 to Coatham Hall in Coatham Mundeville, 50 to Gainford Academy, and the remainder were secreted in rooms, church halls and holiday homes.
At Witton Park, there were now 170 refugees, with St Chad’s primary school having 34 newcomers on its role.
On Saturday, October 24, 1914, all the south Durham refugees converged on Darlington for a Belgian Flag Day was held in Darlington town centre. The Witton Park contingent had a banner reading: "The Belgians have rendered a service to humanity. Do what you can."
Four local brass bands joined their procession, 50,000 flags were sold to Darlingtonians and £450 was raised.
The fund-raising efforts spread out to the villages. For example, the Heighington and Bolam Parish Magazine of November 1914 says: "The Belgian resistance to Germany will rank for ever among the noblest examples of patriotism and courage.”
It then said Heighington schoolchildren had made six overalls (children's), two dresses, two blue mufflers, six pairs socks (children's), one pair men's socks and six pillow cases, which had been despatched to Fr Krajicek for the refugees in Witton Park.
In 1915, the British war effort was hampered by a lack of shells to fire at the enemy, so the British government decided to create a munitions factory at Birtley, near Chester-le-Street, which was to be staffed completely by Belgians who were to live in the shanty town of Elisabethville – named after the Belgian queen – which grew up beside it.
In August 1915, Frans Peeters, the eldest of Theresia’s sons, went north from Witton Park, as one of the first carpenters to start building the factory.
He left in the former ironworkers’ terrace of Low King Street his heavily pregnant wife, Sidonia, who gave birth on October 29 to a son, Louis.
As Elisabethville grew, the south Durham Belgians moved up to work and live. The township accommodated 4,000 of them, who lived behind a tall security fence that was guarded by Belgian and British troops. It was as much to keep them safe from intruders as it was to keep them in a closed community.
In the factory, Frans Peeters had his arm ripped off on a lathe, but somehow recovered. His limb was buried in a County Durham field, and he was found work managing the Elisabethville cinema.
By November 1916, Witton Park was empty of Belgians, and, we think, nearly all of south Durham’s refugees had moved to work in the munitions factory, although a few remained – in the summer of 1917, there’s a record of Monsieur Kerkhofs still working in the kitchen garden at Coatham Hall.
In early 1919, the Birtley factory began to wind down and nearly all of the Durham Belgians returned home – a few had fallen in love and stayed – and began to rebuild their lives.
Twenty years later, it happened all over again. Memories 689 told how, heartbreakingly, Clementine Cypers could not bear the suffering another war would bring and so, in early June 1940, took her own life in the river which runs through Aarschot.
Louis Peeters had also never recovered from the trauma of the First World War, of being stood down from the firing line when death seemed inevitable, and then of witnessing his father shot in front of him.
When he returned from the North East, he spent the rest of his life in a hospital in Mortsel, about 20 miles from Aarschot, suffering mentally.
On April 5, 1943, the B-17 bombers of the US Air Force went looking for a motor works in Mortsel, which was now in occupied Belgium and was repairing Luftwaffe planes. Two bombs fell on the factory, but in only eight minutes, 24 tons of munitions fell on the civilian population of Mortsel, killing 936 people, including Louis.
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- With huge thanks to Witton Park historian Dale Daniel who, in 2002, helped organise the first return visit by members of the Peeters family to Witton Park. If you can tell us anymore about the Belgians of south Durham, we’d love to hear from you. Please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk
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