Children of the collaboration

During the Second World War, tens of thousands of Belgians collaborated with the Nazi regime. Their children look back and testify about the war period. What did their parents do, why did they collaborate, and how do their children perceive it now?

September 1944. Belgium is liberated. Many collaborators and their families have to make a choice: stay in Belgium, or flee with the German army to Germany. Those who stay risk being beaten in the street. But even those who leave, face a very uncertain future...

It's 1945. The war is over. The government takes action to punish collaborators. Tens of thousands are put away behind bars. For their children, a difficult time begins, often without a father or a mother.

In the 1950s and 1960s, many of the children of collaborators grew up in a society that was hostile towards them. They gradually discover what happened during the war. How do their parents feel about the past? And what do they think about it?

Many collaborators hoped to achieve an independent Flanders through collaboration. After the war, they continued this struggle. Within the Flemish movement, the legacy of collaboration is very much present. Many children still dream of an independent Flanders, even today.

The theme of the Holocaust was not discussed for a long time in Belgium, especially in families with a collaborative background. Today, the children of collaborators talk about the Nazi horror, the camps and the Holocaust. How do they look at that past? And do they blame their parents?

The last episode focuses on the image of collaboration in Flanders. Why are there still strets named after Cyriel Verschaeve and how important was Black Sunday? Various historians explain how Flanders has dealt with its war history over the past seventy years.