During my trip to the Atlantic Wall, I was recommended twice to visit the Private Museum For Freedom in Knokke–Heist, the final region to be liberated on 02 Nov 1944. It details the struggles of the population and the contribution of the Canadians to the liberation of Belgium.
The mission statement of the For Freedom Museum:
Not a single resident of the Zwin region and West Zeeuws-Vlaanderen was spared from repression and hardship between 1940 and 1944. This dark period in our history is the main theme of the museum. It is precisely this phase of our local past that we want to pass on to our children and grandchildren, in the hope that such war violence will not be repeated. The youth must know that freedom has a price, a price that our ancestors paid in hard currency. We must cherish freedom. This important message of peace and tolerance is delivered daily in the For Freedom Museum.
The inspiration for the museum was Dennis Jones a Brit war veteran who married a girl from Konkke-Heist. In 1984 his 2 sons, inspired by his war stories, started to assemble exhibits to tell the story of the region, and the liberation by the Canadians. There were a great number of stories but nowhere to properly tell them. The sons travelled to Canada interviewed veterans and requested contributions to add to the stories.
In 2005 the location of a former school was selected, and the museum opened in 2009.
The museum has over 100 mannequins wearing uniforms of the combatants of both sides. The mannequins all have wax heads, sculptured by one of the sons, creating extremely life-like dioramas.
The museum is divided into about 14 separate sections with separate audio tracks for each diorama. I really liked the audio tracks as they were about 3-5 minutes in length and provided detailed descriptions of the phases of conflict as well as the details of the personnel displayed.
Soldiers displayed are wearing the uniforms of the regiments involved in the fighting. A couple that caught my eye was the Queen’s Own Rifles and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada shoulder flashes. We had a previous post about Thomas Easton of the Queen’s Own Riles at Juno Beach, and my Great Uncle George Johnston who served with the Argylls.
Queen’s Owns Rifles
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada.
The German soldiers are represented as well, with a variety of uniforms from all three services.
The number of military artifacts was also very impressive, as shown at the bottom of the picture.
One of the things I was not aware of was the number of one or two man submarines the Germans employed, particularly in the mouth of the River Scheldt. The submarines were only slightly longer the torpedoes themselves.
In one of the out buildings they had the real thing.
They also did a very good job of collecting and assembling artifacts.
Airborne Kit
Aircrew Gear
The Canadians were, and still are, revered by the Belgians and Dutch, because they were liberated from German Oppression and the Allies freely shared food with the starving population. Regular airdrops helped the civilian population survive.
Military Rations
As well as uniform and equipment, the museum has an impressive collection of unit badges.
Queen’s Own Rifles
Canadian Scottish Regiment
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada
RCAF Wings
The museum had an excellent 10-minute video on the battle of the Scheldt, including a good deal of footage I had not previously seen.
The museum also holds the collection of the Belgian Aviation History Association, who actively collect and unearth aircraft remains. 84 Group RAF flew 9,782 missions during the month of October, mostly with Spitfires and Typhoons. Heavy losses led to a bounty for the Aviation History Group. They are still active today and mobilize whenever a new aircraft crash site is unearthed. When I visited, they were busy cataloging and re-arranging their latest finds.
Diorama of Liberation Day
Liberation Day at Knokke-Heist
Overall, the For Freedom Museum is a fabulous collection of war artifacts that does a great job of telling the story of the area and the contributions of Canada.
The museum is well worth a visit and made me very proud to be a Canadian.
Terrific post on a very interesting museum visit, Paul. My mother-in-law, her parents and grandparents vacationed at Knokke-Heist between the wars and I’ve inherited their photos from that time. It would have been great to share your visit report with her. I also found that Canadians are still warmly remembered in the areas they liberated in Italy for providing medical care and sharing their rations with the malnourished locals. Our Hitler Line guide pointedly observed that this estime is not extended to the Brits who did not care for or share with the Italian civilians. It did, indeed, make James and me proud to be Canadians. Bob
Dennis Jones and his sons must be so proud of this very beautiful and informative museum they have created. I hope Dennis lived t see his stories and others come to life. Even from the small bit you have described, it is most educational and informative. The Dutch liberation certainly does make you proud to be Canadian. I must admit that the aircrew gear photo looks a lot like my office closet.