Jan-Albert Goris, “We Shall Come Back,” “Lest We Forget” series, Part III, Reader’s Digest, Vol. 46, No. 273 (January 1945), pp. 69-70.
This article, condensed from an article printed in News from Belgium, 9 September 1944, described the liberation of Belgium and the last words of the Germans as they left that were broadcast from the German radio in Brussels. In the article, the author recorded the Germans as saying “We shall never rob you. We shall never pillage you. Do not show hatred towards us. One day we shall come back; till then à bientôt.” Goris contrasted this last message with the atrocities committed by the Nazis against Belgium during the war, and argued that the Germans already committed the crimes they claimed they would never commit. He briefly described the crimes committed by the Nazis and the numbers of Belgians that were abducted, imprisoned, and murdered during the war. He ended the article with a warning that if the Germans were treated the way they were after World War I, then their threat of returning to occupy Belgium again would become a reality.
For other articles in the “Lest We Forget” series, see Inserts 1 and 31.