city without making an assault on Breendonk. The fort's garrison surrendered on 9 October 1914. Breendonk was used briefly in World War II but was already militarily obsolete. During the German invasion of Belgium in May 1940, it served as the initial headquarters of the Belgian General Staff under King Leopold III but was abandoned as the Germans advanced. The Belgian Army surrendered on 28 May 1940, beginning a period of German occupation which lasted until September 1944. German prison camp: Breendonk I Breendonk was occupied during the campaign of May 1940 and soon transformed into a prison camp which was controlled by SS and other security agencies of Nazi Germany—Sicherheitspolizei (SIPO) and Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in particular—although Belgium itself was under military (Wehrmacht) jurisdiction and controlled by General Alexander von Falkenhausen. Administration and inmates On 20 September 1940, the first prisoners arrived. Initially most of the prisoners were petty criminals, people deemed anti-social, or who did not conform to the German race laws. Later on, resistance fighters, political prisoners and ordinary people captured as hostages were detained as well. Another section was used as a transit camp for Jews being sent to death camps in Eastern Europe such as Auschwitz-Birkenau. The camp was guarded by Flemish collaborationist paramilitaries as well as German SS units. Of the 300 prisoners that died in the camp itself, 185 were executed; many of the rest died of torture, disease or exposure. Most of those that did survive were transported to concentration camps. The German execution poles and gallows, as well as the torture chamber, are preserved in the current museum on the site. Between 3,500 and 3,600 prisoners were incarcerated in Breendonk during its existence, of whom 1,733 died before liberation. About 400-500 were Jews. Most of the non-Jewish prisoners were left-wing members of the Belgian resistance or were held as hostages by the Germans. In September 1941, the Belgian Communist prisoners held at Breendonk were deported to Neuengamme concentration camp. Jewish prisoners in Breendonk were segregated from other prisoners until 1942. Thereafter, Jews were transferred to the nearby Mechelen transit camp and deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. Daily life in the camp Upon arrival at the camp, new inmates were brought to the courtyard where they would have to stand facing the wall until they were processed into the camp. They were forbidden to move and any motion was