Episode 3: Former Ford Garage

PODCAST - Merchtem during the Second World War: between collaboration and resistance.
EPISODE 3: The Ford Garage. (symbol on the map: Krekelendries 11 - collaboration) - voices: Joren Degreef and Lennart Lafère (6 WeWi)

3.0: Intro: August De Boeck – Piano Concerto

3.1: Welcome to part 3 of our podcast on the theme of Merchtem during WWII, between collaboration and resistance.

This part talks about the Ford garage, widely known in Merchtem.

Be sure to check out the beautiful Ford logo we found in the archives of the Heemkundige Kring.

What history is hidden behind this beautiful and protected façade?

3.2: In a 2016 online newspaper article, we read how the former Ford garage - a protected monument and architectural heritage site - "erected in modernist style" "bears a rich history". Founded in the early 1930s by Alfred George, the garage was then one of the largest Ford garages in the country. A portrait of the founder still hangs in the office of the former manager Johan Thomas. "This garage was very authoritative because in 1948, the American Henry Ford, the owner of the brand, visited Merchtem in person," Mr. Thomas said - according to the article.

Strange, because Henry Ford - whose assembly line we heard about in history class - died a year earlier in 1947. So we better consider this an urban legend.

3.3:

a

In the archives of the Heemkundige Kring van Merchtem, however, we find another 'forgotten' past of the garage.

We read of the frustrations among the former Merchtem mayor Vanginderachter in a letter dated 5 December 1944 to the Ministry of National Defence. In it, Alfred George is bluntly called a 'collaborator'. The mayor had a list drawn up of all the objects allegedly in his garage that George had obtained illegally during the war.

b

'How is it nevertheless possible that the Ministry of National Defence should protect and even employ Mr George, against whom serious allegations have been lodged regarding civilian loyalty, against whom the entire Merchtem population will make and continue to make efforts until he receives his deserved punishment, how is it nevertheless possible that this unscrupulous gentleman should be protected and even employed by your services or subordinates.'

In a letter dated 8 February 1945, the mayor again expresses his dissatisfaction with the matter and, more specifically, the Army Recuperation Service. Fred George seems to have patrons: one General de Hénin de Boussu Walcourt.

'I take it [therefore] as a duty to point out to you [...] that George's material has grown since the recording by us and I have discovered yet another repository of all kinds of objects bearing the stamp of the enemy.'

c

The confidential relationship between George and the Germans began shortly after the start of the war, according to these excerpts:

'Beginning of hostilities in 1940, George and his daughter Caroline, were seen with Germans in front of the window as they were drinking champagne or wine.'

And the bond remained good afterwards too, we read:

'Whenever German officers came into the garage, they were led by George, into his private home where they then ate and drank well.'

And we read on:

George, paid for thousands of francs worth of liquor for the Germans, at the Putteman Inn, at Wolvertem.

d

His workers, at least according to testimonies, were treated much less kindly. Those who wished to resign or were suspected by Ford of not working hard enough or withholding goods were threatened with sending them to Germany or even the bullet. However, they earned sufficient from their labour themselves. We read:

'George, complained to his guests that they were not working diligently enough and threatened them by saying he would make them go to germany. He drew 20 francs an hour for some guests and paid them only 25 francs a day.' [...]

'He was a second Fuhrer in his garage because almost every week he made speeches to his guests and told them to work better as he did not earn enough otherwise and that he was then obliged to send his guests home because he still had to add money.'

e

Ford - at least according to the testimonies given against him - was found to have been involved in a whole scam involving spare parts for cars. We read:

'The distributor of Ford, at Liege, a good patriot, sold spare parts to George, on condition that they were used for repairs to vehicles of civilians. George bought them and immediately took them to the warehouses of the Werhmacht [...]. Of the additional rations George received for his workmen, he kept most for himself and his friends.'

f

'Throughout the war, George, in his garage, carried out truck repairs for the German Wehrmacht. As proof that he colluded, I quote the following: He has always managed his garage himself. He recruited workmen himself to work in his garage. Around June 1940, he employed only about a dozen workmen and this number increased in 1944, to more than 50.'

g

How did it end with George?

h

On 4 September 1944, Alfred George, was arrested by the Merchtem Resistance groups. After being detained for three days in the municipal boys' school today [the Municipal Primary School] de Plataan [in Stationsstraat], he was transferred, along with the other political prisoners, to the Breendonk fortress. That same evening, George, was taken out of there by Baron [de Hennin] de Boussu Walcourt, and released. The mayor would agitate over it until long afterwards. The same one who - according to the testimonies - was personally involved in taking the inventory, but was certainly in no hurry to do so, then threw his weight around once more to get Fred George out of the hands of repression.

3.4: We listen to Droesbeke one last time.

3.5:

interview - 22 March 2023 - conducted by Amber Gysens (6 LaWi) and Frederik Van den Broeck (teacher)

Jean-claude Droesbeke: And my closest neighbour, that was Fred George's daughter, and we saw each other, because we were both from Merchtem, and then that was, that lady is still alive today, I suppose she is still alive, she lives in Imde, and then that was, yes, your father was not correct lol, my father was correct, and so and then I strike and then I say nothing more, but I did hear tell about that, I even heard tell, here, Fred George that was a gentleman who had a bicycle shop in Steenhuffel and that evolved from bicycle shop to garage, and then he expanded it here, Ford, but he was an illiterate man, because if you go and look, in the entrance to the garage there is a plaque, a bust of Baron '____', I can't remember his name, and that was Fred George's right-hand man, because Fred George couldn't write, couldn't read, and that gentleman, he was a baron with no money, I'll say, and Fred George had money because he did good business, and he gave him a little flat up here (above the garage), but in return he had to help him with his business.

Frederik Van den Broeck: And do you know what would have happened in the garage during the war? To what extent he (Fred George) played a black role?

Jean-claude Droesbeke: Jean-Claude Droesbeke: No, no, I don't know anything about that, that could be somewhere in those files, but I don't know anything about that, not myself.'

3.6:

What does Droesbeke know? What does he not know? What does he want to say? And - with his characteristic caution - what not?

Be sure to walk in when the shop is open to the corridor and grand the bust.

What role this Baron de Coninck plays in the story is unclear to us.

The name Fred George also turns up in an interview with Paul De Bondt that Emily, Lucas and Lennart conducted.

3.7: interview - 11 February 2023 - with Paul de Bondt - by Lucas Urban, Emily Deremaux and Lennart Lafère (6 LaWi and 6 WeWi)

[Lucas Urban: Do you know a collaborator - someone who collaborated with the Germans - that came from here [Merchtem]?

Paul de Bont: Yes, there were also from here, but yes, ... let's say ...

Lucas Urban: Were there also big ones among them, or were they rather insignificant [collaborators]?

Paul de Bont: Ja, dat waren er allemaal, laat ons zeggen, er was geen enkele die ik kende die bij de Gestapo was, neen, neen … ja op de Markt, waar nu dat huis, er is daar een huis … waar ze met een auto hebben ingereden en dat huis is afgebroken geweest en dat huis is afgebroken. Daar was het ouders huis van Hector Borremans. Die woonde daar. Ik ben daar nog kisten gaan halen tijdens de oorlog, die deed in fruit, met zijn vrachtwagen, en ook een magazijn op de Bosbeek [Peizegem], lege kisten gaan halen en in den Bosbeek afgeladen, en die was, laat ons zeggen, ‘werkte zo’n beetje voor de Duitsers’ en die Frans Heyvaert die doodgeschoten door die Verbelen is, die had een werkvergunning, die had een paspoort, die moest niet gaan lopen, maar ja ‘de Gestapo!, de Gestapo!’, en iedereen gaat lopen en hij is doodgeschoten, maar in feite die moest niet gaan lopen, die had een werkvergunning, die werkte bij Hector Borremans, en die is na de oorlog opgepakt, nog veel mensen, door ’t verzet, en die hebben daar 14 dagen in ’t school [de Plataan] gezeten ‘dat waren gaan deugnieten’. Fred George, ook, van de garage, die hebben ze ook opgepakt, die waren voor de Duitsers, maar ‘dat waren geen deugnieten’, die mensen zijn na 14 dagen vrijgelaten. Maar ik heb nog mannen gekend, die in Brussel hebben gezeten, maar hun naam ken ik niet, en die kwamen af, in 1945 of aan het eind van 1944, te voet af van Brussel, 2 broers, mannen van de Kattestraat [de Pieter Frans Croes van de lijst van prof. De Wever?], hun naam ken ik niet, en die hebben misschien een paar maanden in Brussel vastgezeten, en ‘dat waren brave, dat waren toffe mannen zo’, die ene heeft nog een boekje zoals de Robbedoes [striptijdschrift] uitgebracht, die mannen van het verzet [hij bedoelt collaborateurs] die kregen geen werkvergunning na de oorlog, die mochten niet gaan werken, die hadden geen recht op pensioen, die hadden geen recht op kindergeld, op niets, de mannen die aangeklaagd waren na de oorlog, ze hadden geen recht om gaan te werken, je moet weten dat was niet zo evident, ik ken iemand van Mollem, die had negen kinderen, Staf dat ‘was een toffe gast’, die had onder de oorlog dat was een Duitse burgemeester, je kent dat, dat was een toffe gast, ze Staf, maar ja, hij had geen kindergeld, hij had niks, omwille van wat hij gedaan had, met een boekje Ons land, ging hij naar Jette, en Laken, om het te verkopen, en wat leuren met eieren en boter om zijn gezin ‘groot te krijgen’, 1 schepen of 2 schepenen van Asse dat zijn zijn zonen, ja dat was ‘geen deugniet’, maar ja … Ja maar, ja in een conflict zo neutraal mogelijk blijven, dat is alles wat ik zeg, dat is niet zo evident …

3.8: 'They weren't rascals', they were 'good, cool guys', and these are also repeatedly said about Fred George in the interview with Paul de Bondt. In the end, he even mentions the experiences of Droesbeke and the one who allegedly betrayed him in the 'Gestapo car. Something he actually saw or something he thinks he remembers? Who will say?

3.9: interview - see above
Paul de Bont: Yes, but, yes ... In every conflict, things always happen, well ... like Fons Bursens, I have often said to his wife, who is in her late eighties, nineties... His wife: 'How often have I not said: Fons stay out of that', there was one from Dendermonde, such a big one, I have seen them both sitting in the Gestapo's car ... yes, oh yes ...

3.10: Each podcast ends with a short literary excerpt. You'll find more on this under the 'further reading' section. Will you listen in for a while?

Literature excerpt - The Turntable of Tom Lanoye by Amber Gysens (6 LaWi)

3.11: De politicus vertrekt van een vaststaand kader dat hij in de toekomst wil tot stand brengen. Hij beroept zich daarbij zo vaak op rechtschapenheid, gezond verstand en transparantie dat je weet dat het hem mangelt aan alle drie. Als ík ergens in geloof, dan is het in de leugen. De artistieke leugen. Het openlijke bedrog dat toneel heet en dat niet pretendeert de waarheid na te streven, omdat ‘waarheid’ pas echt bedrog is.

3.12: Outro: August De Boeck – Piano Concerto