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... from Janette and Leopold Pander ...


Five sections of a red parachute received by our family of 5 from our American hosts -- as a souvenir -- before our departure from Weihsien on October 19, 1945.



... one of the last photos before going to camp!


... the few first photos after camp !
A little sister was born in Weihsien.



... the "second" before the last photo before leaving camp forever!

... I remember standing on the plaform of one of these trucks.
Just before passing under the Camp's Main Gate on our way to the airfield, dad said to me:
"Have a good look ... because you will never see this place again!"



... as you can read in the Red Cross message (above) our family was under house arrest at "Road number 3, building number 86". In fact we lived at number 86, Victoria Road - Tientsin. The Japs had already changed all the Road names into numbers!


after "Pearl Harbor":
... obligation to wear an armband


... "The food:
You can only count on enough bread and some Chinese vegetables. Occasionally, eggs, fish and meat are obtainable. However, besides these and other supplies, an additional half a pound of fish or meat per day per person would be more than adequate, to complement a meal.

Work and working hours:
… varied. In general, one day off, every three days for the men, and every two days for the women.
Labour is normal for our community life, (cleaning, coal transport, peeling of vegetables, etc. )...



... letter from a French citizen living in Shanghai.

French nationals under the protection of the
"Vichy Laws"
were not incarcerated in concentration camps as we were ...
Many stayed in contact with us and occasionaly sent us most needed food parcels ...



-- This postcard went all the way from China to Europe, then at WAR.
-- By train, via Siberia;
-- Hitler had attacked Russia on June 22nd, 1941 and so the post card travelled via Turkey instead;



... Janette's school bag ...


Marie Louise Pander
July 7, 1944 ...

"... For enterprise and promptness
Commend us to the one
Who came to Camp two days ago; ... "



Journal de Shanghaï,
24 août, 1943



Le Journal de Shanghaï, 3 juillet 1943 ...




First letter "home" after Camp.



Albert's visit to Brussels,
November 28, 2004
... a selection of photographs ...



Journée du Souvenir à Chaumont-Gistoux - Belgique,
le 6 MAI 2005.



Christine's visit to Belgium
August, 2005. ...






... from Shanghai to Weihsien ...
January, 2006 ...
The Kite Fabric.



January 2006, (day two)
... visit to the old Weihsien Compound



January 2006, (day three)
... Weifang, ... the
Kite Museum and a very warm & excellent "hot-pot"



Easter 2006
Gay Stratford, née Talbot's visit to Belgium.

... with the red parachute from Weihsien, received after the War ...



- Alcatraz est une prison en Amérique ...
- White Sulphur Spring est un camp d'internés pour les Japs en Amérique ...
Article à garder S.V.P. pour les gosses ...



Edmond Van Genechten,
... a Belgian artist and one of the Roman Catholic priests imprisonned in Weihsien ...



Doctor Neve was a lifetime friend of our parents. She too, was in Weihsien and lived in Scotland after the War ...


" ... Fin mai 1945, tous les camps de concentration, où étaient incarcérés des Belges, n'étaient pas libérés. En effet, les camps de concentration japonais n'ont été libérés, qu'après la capitulation des Japonais obtenue, " si l'on peut dire, grâce à l'usage des bombes atomiques sur Hiroshima et Nagasaki.

Tel fut le sort de mes parents, mes frères et ma soeur au camp de ... etc.



Banque Belge pour l'Etranger -
Extrême Orient
-
Tientsin, now Tianjin.
photo-2015. ©

Incident that occurred just after "Pearl Harbor" and before "House Arrest" prior to our internment in Weihsien …



... the same story in a Tianjin newspaper, by Xiang Zhang.