We were never children: growing up during the Second World War

I saw for the first time a mass of planes, glittering in the morning light. How mighty, I thought, how beautiful!
Julien van Remoortere, 10 in '40
My father had a pig brought. Of course, the pig was not allowed to grunt even once. Smuggling meat was strictly forbidden.
Mark Eyskens, 7 in '40
The hearse was there – with two coffins. The other coffin was for a young woman. We had to be ‘dead quiet’ – corpses don’t talk. That’s how we got to Bree.
Jos Ghysen, 14 in '40
The plaster falling from the ceilings turned the dead into mannequins.
Jan Pere, 12 in '40
In an apartment where you are not supposed to live, you certainly should not be heard. That is how I lived in slippers for over two years. In 1944, with the liberation, I could not wear shoes!
Fred Erdman, 7 in '40
Children experienced the war differently than adults. Less threatening, because they did not realize what was happening to them. Except for those who looked death in the eye: the bombings, the devastation and the fear sometimes still hold them in their grip at night…
Those young people who experienced the Second World War are now in their seventies and eighties. They are the last generation of witnesses, before the Second World War becomes real history. Journalist WALTER GANSEMANS brings out their deepest memories. No political or military facts, but the story of the 'small' big war. Powerful photos show the uncertain times in which children grew up.