Editing Fort Breendonk (section)

{{Short description|Military fort which served as a Nazi prison camp in Willebroek, Belgium}}
{{Infobox concentration camp
| name         = Fort Breendonk<br />''SS-Auffanglager Breendonk''
| type         = [[Nazi concentration camps#Types of camps|Prison camp]]
| image        = Fort Breendonk entrance (DSCF0597).jpg
| image size   = 250px
| caption      = A modern view of the camp's entrance
| alt          = View of a fort in the distance with a chain-link fence to the left
| location map = Belgium
| map alt      = 
| map caption  = Location of the camp in Belgium
| coordinates  = {{coord|51|03|23|N|04|20|29|E|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| other names  = ''SS-Auffanglager Breendonk''
| known for    = 
| location     = [[Breendonk]], [[Antwerp (province)|Province of Antwerp]], [[Belgium]]
| built by     = [[Belgian Army]] (part of the [[National redoubt of Belgium|National Redoubt of Antwerp]])
| operated by  = [[SS]]
| commandant   = {{plainlist|
* [[Philipp Schmitt]] {{small|(August 1940–November 1943)}}
* [[Karl Schönwetter]] {{small|(November 1943–August 1944)}}}}
| construction    = 1906–13
| in operation    = 20 September 1940 – 4 September 1944
| prisoner type   = [[Jews]], [[political prisoners]], [[Resistance during World War II|resistance members]], [[hostage]]s
| killed          = 
| liberated by    = 
| notable inmates = [[Jean Améry]], [[Willy Kruyt]], [[Martial van Schelle]], [[Todor Angelov]], [[Paul Hoornaert]]
| notable books   = 
| website         = {{URL|www.breendonk.be}}
}}

'''Fort Breendonk''' ({{langx|nl|Fort van Breendonk}}, {{langx|fr|Fort de Breendonk}}) is a former military installation at [[Breendonk]], near [[Mechelen]], [[Belgium]], which served as a [[Nazism|Nazi]] [[prison|prison camp]] (''Auffanglager'') during the [[German occupation of Belgium during World War II]].

Originally constructed between 1906 and 1913 as part of the second ring of the [[National redoubt of Belgium|National Redoubt]] defending [[Antwerp]], Fort Breendonk was used by the [[Belgian Army]] and was covered by a five-metre thick layer of soil for defense against artillery fire, a water-filled moat and measured {{convert|656|by|984|ft|m}}.{{sfn|USHMM Encyclopedia}} It was used in both [[World War I]] and [[World War II]] by which time it had become militarily obsolete.

Fort Breendonk was requisitioned by the [[Schutzstaffel]] (SS) shortly after the [[Battle of Belgium|Belgian surrender on 28 May 1940]] and used as a prison camp for the detention of political prisoners, resistance members, and Jews. Although technically a prison rather than a [[concentration camp]], it became infamous for the poor living conditions in which the prisoners were housed and for the torture and executions which were carried out there. Most detainees were subsequently transferred to larger concentration camps in Eastern Europe. 3,590 prisoners are known to have been held at Fort Breendonk during the war of whom 303 died or were executed in the fort itself while 1,741 others subsequently died in other camps before the end of the war.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Deem|first1=James M.|title=The Prisoners of Breendonk: Personal Histories from a World War II Concentration Camp|date=2015|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|location=New York|isbn=9780544096646|page=2}}</ref> In Belgian historical memory, Breendonk became symbolic of the barbarity of the German occupation.

The camp was evacuated ahead of the [[Liberation of Belgium]] by the [[Allies of World War II]] in September 1944. It was briefly repurposed to detain Belgian collaborators. It was declared a "national memorial" in 1947 and has subsequently been open to the public as a museum. Many of the camp's personnel were subsequently tried for their wartime actions in Belgian courts.