#nivelles

Belgian autumn.

A Confabulated History, 2010-2015

Jan Rosseel

“In the autumn of 1985, a series of violent and bloody robberies of Belgian supermarkets abruptly came to an end. A group of unknown criminals, referred to as ‘The Gang of Nivelles’, was held responsible for these heinous acts. Between March 1982 and November 1985, the Gang of Nivelles committed twenty-three robberies and other crimes. In all, twenty-eight people were killed. My father was one of them.

The excessive violence used by the gang, was out of all proportion to the modest loot of 175,000 euros. In spite of a thorough police investigation, a file of almost three million pages, found evidence and eye witness accounts, the perpetrators were never apprehended. This period of terror and violence will remain one of the darkest pages in Belgian history.

Now, almost thirty years later, the perpetrators are still on the loose, their identity is still unknown and the police investigation is not completed. The motives of the perpetrators is still unknown. There are many questions and ambiguities about the way the Belgian government has acted in the investigation. There are critical theories about the role played by the Belgian State and question marks herein are put by the Belgian judicial system.

At that time Belgium was faced with a new form of terror, creating disorder in daily life, disrupting normality and creating a power shift between the state and its people. In an attempt to create a sustainable and new legal system Belgium was faced with many difficulties due to the disorderly political state. Political and cultural differences between Dutch and French speaking magistrates and political games caused a virtual judicial meltdown of an investigation into one of the greatest enigmas in Belgian history.

Colars de Douai, Jacquemon de Nivelles et Jacques d'Anchin - Châsse de Sainte-Gertrude (1272 - 1298), Eglise Sainte-Gertrude, Nivelles

Photographié avant le bombardement de mai 1940

I wonder what the professor is cooking up.  I guess the chef knows since he does have the Turkey or Chicken in his hand.

this drawing is from Harry Edwood, it was drawn on a menu card for the meal of "Les Amis de Hergé" in Nivelles March 1, 2014. On the bottom is what they had for dinner/lunch.