Through the Iron Bars: Two Years of German Occupation in Belgium

A vivid account of life under German occupation recounts civilian endurance, economic plunder, and cultural repression across two years in Belgium. It documents military operations and focuses on ordinary citizens—shopkeepers, workers, and families—who endure requisitions, forced labor, confiscation of food and materials, and punitive fines while preserving moral resistance and national spirit. Chapters combine eyewitness narrative, statistical description of famine and industrial collapse, and satirical cartoons to show how systematic appropriation, transport disruptions, and deportations devastated agriculture, commerce, and livelihoods, leaving widespread unemployment, scarcity, and dependence on relief commissions.