The In Flanders Fields Museum in Ieper has received a very special letter collection from a French family. Some of the 250 letters are written in invisible ink and deal with escape plans in a POW camp. Ernest Cazeneuve wrote them while imprisoned in the prison camp in the German city of Münster in late 1914.
Aurore Fauré-Cazeneuve discovered the letters two years ago when she was clearing out the attic of her parents' house in southern France. These were letters that her grandfather and great uncle wrote 110 years ago to keep their families informed about their experiences at the front in Ieper and at a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany.
Aurore's great uncle Alfred was killed after only three weeks. Great uncle Ernest was taken prisoner of war on 13 November 1914 between the Ieper village of Hollebeke and the borough of Wijtschate in Heuvelland. He spent some time in the prison camp of the German city of Münster, where many Belgians were also present. To circumvent German censorship, Ernest described, among other things, his escape plans in invisible ink and in dialect and mirror writing. Granddaughter Aurore used a chemical to reveal the content of these letters.
The In Flanders Fields Museum receives donations almost every week, but this Easter holiday was exceptionally busy. "The donations came in daily," says Annick Vandenbilck, who is responsible for personal donations at the museum. "It's about more than letters, photos or medals, the stories behind them are also important. Why are they so numerous now? We have no explanation. One donation is not more important than another, but they can be unique. This French letter collection certainly is."
Museum staff and volunteers will register, preserve and digitise the letters that can soon be consulted in the knowledge centre for research.
